CONCORD, NH – The New Hampshire National Guard recently hosted an open house to feature its Counterdrug Program.
The June 26 event, at Army Aviation Flight Facility in Concord, was a first for the program and held to educate law enforcement and other community organizations about the various resources the program provides.
“Defending the homeland and building partnerships, that’s what it’s all about,” said NHNG Adjutant Gen. David Mikolaities during his welcome remarks. “We want to help.”
The NHNG Counterdrug Program’s mission is to support the detection, interdiction, disruption, and curtailment of drug trafficking activities. It accomplishes this in a variety of ways, to include with investigative case analysts who are assigned to police agencies throughout the state to enhance the effectiveness of counterdrug investigations.
“We’re that support element to make sure we keep you guys on the street to fight the war on drugs,” said Senior Master Sgt. Timothy Hackett to the group of 60 local, state and federal officers in attendance.
The program’s coordinator, Lt. Col. Eugene Mozzoni, stressed that the capabilities of the program extend far beyond analysts.
“There’s a lot more to this program than everyone knows,” Mozzoni said. “This is to educate the law enforcement agencies–state, local and federal–about what we offer for the war on drugs. There’s more to the program than just case analysts.”
Other counterdrug missions include linguist and transcription services, transportation support and aerial reconnaissance.
Additionally, a future mission entitled “Operation Crackdown” will provide engineering assets to assist communities with the removal of structures identified as proven drug trafficking locations to promote community revitalization, Mozzoni said.
The NHNG hopes to schedule similar open house events in the future to further showcase the program’s capabilities and educate counterdrug stakeholders.
“If people don’t know about us, they can’t use us,” Mozzoni said.