New Exhibit at NYS Military Museum Tells the 20-Year Tale of the Global War on Terror

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York— An exhibit commemorating New Yorkers who fought the Global War on Terror—GWOT in military speak-- officially opened on Thursday, Nov. 5 at the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Major General Ray Shields, the adjutant general of New York, cut the ceremonial ribbon along with retired Major General Joseph Taluto, who commanded the New York National Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division in Iraq in 2005.

The museum, located in the Saratoga Armory, is maintained by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs. It tells the story of New York’s military history from the American Revolution to the present.

The 20 years of conflict that began with the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, needs to be remembered, Sheilds said.

“I think it’s just really critical that we highlight that,” he said.

As a colonel, Shields served as the chief of staff for the New York National Guard’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team during a 2008-2009 deployment to Afghanistan.

The conflict – pronounced ‘gee-wot’—is significant for New York because it started in New York, said Richard Goldenberg, the director of military history for the Division of Military and Naval Affairs.

The Department of Defense officially lists the start of the GWOT as the terrorist actions which resulted in the crash of two airliners into New York City’s Twin Towers.

“This was an attack on our soil, an attack on our neighbors, our city,” he said.

The exhibit employs photographs, text, uniforms, artifacts, and weapons to tell the story of that conflict and New Yorkers’ role in it.

On Sept. 11, 2001, New York Air National Guardsmen at the Northeast Air Defense Sector worked to sort out the terror in the skies. Meanwhile, New York Army National Guardsmen in New York City converged on “Ground Zero” in lower Manhattan to assist the police and fire departments.

Just short of 20 years later, at the end of August 2021, the crew of Reach 824, a C-17 flown by the New York Air National Guard’s 105th Airlift Wing, brought home the remains of the last 13 Americans killed in Afghanistan.

The exhibit—formally titled “ "New Millennium, New Challenge: The Global War on Terror, 2001-2021" -- tells visitors what happened in between.

One panel outlines the rescue of American Thomas Hamill, a civilian truck driver captured by Iraqi insurgents, on May 2, 2004, by members of C Company of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment south of Tikrit Iraq. The New York Army National Guard Soldiers from Gloversville came upon Hamill who had been held for 22 days during a patrol.

Another panel discusses the 27th Infantry Brigade’s command of Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, a multinational team of 9,500 personnel training the Afghan Army and police in 2008.

Sections of the exhibit are crafted to look like the ubiquitous “T-Walls” which were used to protect temporary buildings and tents from mortar rounds in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the uniforms on display was worn by Staff Sgt. Donald Leinfelder, a member of the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, who received the Purple Heart after his Humvee was hit by a rocket propelled grenade in Baghdad in 2005.

Leinfelder’s battalion was tasked with securing “Route Irish” between Baghdad International Airport and the secure “Green Zone” in downtown Baghdad.

A uniform, helmet and ballistic vest worn by Taluto as commander of the 42nd Infantry Division and Task Force Liberty in North Central Iraq, helps tell the story of the first National Guard division to deploy to a combat zone since the Korean War in 2005.

In his remarks, Taluto emphasized the importance of remembering the sacrifices of veterans and the part exhibits like this play.

“We have always honored, recognized, and memorialized our veterans, through every conflict,” he said.

“So, it’s perfectly appropriate that we have an exhibit here for post 9/11 veterans, primarily the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that deployed for over 20 years. That’s the longest war in our country’s history,” Taluto added.

The $100,000 cost to research, design and install the permanent exhibit was raised by the Friends of the New York State Military Museum. The non-profit works with donors to help supplement the taxpayer dollars which pay museum operating costs.

Taluto is serving as the chair of the group’s GWOT committee, and said the next goal is to create a GWOT traveling exhibit which could go to communities around New York.

The New York State Military Museum’s collection dates back to 1863 when the adjutant general of New York was instructed to collect information and items about New York’s role in the Civil War.

The museum holds a collection of 1,000 Civil War-era flags-- one of the largest in the world-- along with 700 weapons, 30,000 other artifacts, 17,643 photographs, and 1,415 oral history transcripts.

The exhibits in the military history museum highlight New York’s role from the Revolution to the Cold War and now the first war of the 21st Century.

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