BG Stanley Budraitis, Commander of 66th Troop Command, Mississippi National Guard (MSNG), is part of the MSNG force responding to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of its Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) mission. As one of Mississippi’s state partners, and with ironic timing, Uzbekistan representatives came to Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center near Hattiesburg, Mississippi in March to observe the Patriot South 2020 exercise based on a simulated Category IV hurricane causing flooding and wind damage. That was just weeks before COVID-19 effects became widespread and four weeks before devastating tornadoes and thunderstorms pounded central and south Mississippi on Easter Sunday, April 12th as severe weather ripped through the state. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported a confirmed death count of at least 12 people and more than 1,200 homes damaged or destroyed from that one series of storms that one day alone. The Soldiers of the 66th Troop Command and the MSNG are key to the DSCA mission.
BG Stanley ‘Stan’ E. Budraitis
Distance Class of 2014
Commander, 66th Troop Command
Mississippi National Guard
U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Christopher Shannon
Photo by Tate Nations, MS Governor’s Communication Team
Photo by Tate Nations, MS Governor’s Communication Team
