SINAI PENINSULA, Egypt (5/24/17) - The extraordinary has become routine. A Friday ceremony in which a Minnesota National Guard infantry battalion handed over responsibility for the Multinational Force and Observers mission here to an incoming Massachusetts National Guard infantry battalion might have been newsworthy 16 years ago. Before the 9/11 attacks. In the 16 years since - through innumerable missions fighting America's wars, securing the homeland and strengthening domestic and international partnerships essential to national security - the National Guard transformed from strategic reserve to operational force. And the extraordinary became routine.

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