The 114th Transportation Company of the Minnesota Army National Guard was named Tuesday as the outstanding transportation company in the Guard for the unit's work in Afghanistan.
Based in Duluth with a detachment in Chisholm, the 114th is responsible for resupply of mobile combat units. They quickly move combat-configured loads of ammunition and all classes of supply, shelters and containers.
They're known as "The Wolfpack."
"The award the unit won for its outstanding service during a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan is more evidence that the Minnesota National Guard is second to none," Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said in a prepared statement. "It's all the more remarkable because the unit won this award only three years after being organized. The Minnesota National Guard makes our state proud."
The 114th left Minnesota on June 17, 2009, and was stationed at the Forward Operating Base Leatherneck. While in Afghanistan, the 114th lost one of its members, Spc. George W. Cauley, 24, of Walker, Minn., to an insurgent attack. Cauley died Oct. 10 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered in an Oct. 7 attack on his vehicle.
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The 114th's mission is relatively new. U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan had been largely supplied by private contract haulers or from air drops. The 114th is equipped to haul supplies on trucks with fast self-loading and unloading capabilities.
To protect convoys, the unit used newly designed armor-plated vehicles with V-shaped bottoms to protect against mines and improvised explosive devices.
The company formed with members from 108 communities across the state. This was the first deployment for the company and the first for about two-thirds of its members. The other company members have been deployed overseas with other units.
