Editor’s note: Gov. Sununu’s press office said the 501-c4 Live Free or Die Committee that the Governor established months ago will pay for the trip.
Concord, NH – On the evening of Wednesday, October 4, Governor Chris Sununu will depart New Hampshire for international travel.
The Governor will first travel to Kuwait to visit the New Hampshire National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery Regiment, which is deployed to Central Command (CENTCOM) in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Spartan Shield.
About 230 soldiers from the HIMARS (high mobility rocket system) battalion are stationed in Kuwait. Another 50 are assigned to other locations in the Middle East.
NH Adjutant Gen. David Mikolaities will accompany Governor Sununu for the visit.
The 3rd/197th FAR provides accurate and timely rocket and missile fires within the U.S. Central Command Area of Operations (AOR). It departed New Hampshire earlier this spring.
Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military operation name for the military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including both the campaign in Iraq and campaign in Syria.
Operation Spartan Shield is a US CENTCOM operation focused on building defense relationships and enhancing partner capacity with U.S. allies.
The Governor will then depart Kuwait to represent New Hampshire alongside Dean Kamen at the FIRST Global Challenge 2023 in Singapore – an Olympic-style robotics competition with 191 teams representing 190 nations from around the world. The Governor previously attended the FIRST Global Challenge in 2019 in Dubai.
FIRST was founded in Manchester, New Hampshire by Dean Kamen in 1989, and has since grown into a global program.
Governor Sununu has become a national leader and advocate for expanding robotics programs at the state level. In 2017, Governor Sununu created the Robotics Education Fund, a $1M initiative for public schools to implement robotics programs. In 2018, he announced the Governor’s Cup – a competitive annual robotics competition in partnership between The University System of New Hampshire, the Community College System, and FIRST Robotics that provides a tuition-free semester within the University or Community College System for seniors on winning teams. The most recent budget signed into law by Governor Sununu includes funding to make New Hampshire the first state in America to bring FIRST Robotics to every middle and high school classroom in the state with the new Experiential Robotics Platform. Additionally, the budget included a new credentialing pathway making it easier to become a computer science teacher, up to $10,000 in bonuses for computer science teachers, and professional development funds for computer science teachers to pursue the new credentialing pathway.
The Governor will then depart Singapore for Hawaii, where he will participate in an event with the Hawaii Republican Party.
The Governor will return to the State of New Hampshire the morning of Sunday, October 15.
No taxpayer funds are being used for the Governor’s travel. At no point during this trip will Governor Sununu be unavailable to act in his official capacity as Governor.