Citizen Soldiers of the Georgia National Guard’s 277th Support Maintenance Company and 877th Engineer Company have returned home following a one-year deployment as part of U.S. Northern Command and Joint Task Force North in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Fifty Soldiers of the 877th returned home in time for Thanksgiving while the remaining Soldiers returned through the middle of December.
Both units have a long history of overseas and domestic service. After returning from Iraq in 2003, the 877th Engineer Company was assigned as the search and extraction element of Joint Task Force 781st, a unit organized to assist civil authorities during emergency response operations. The 877th deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 where its Soldiers conducted combat engineer missions in three separate regional commands.
The 277th SMC first mobilized to the southwest border in 1916 as Company A, 5th Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard. The company mobilized to France in World War I and returned to Europe in 1944 as Battery A, 179th Field Artillery Battalion. Receiving its current designation as the 277th SMC in 1971, the unit deployed to Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2010.
Since 2013, the Georgia National Guard has had a continuous presence on the border providing aviation, engineering, and logistical support. This support continues into 2026 with Soldiers of the 1230th Transportation Company currently mobilized as part of Joint Task Force North.