1st Lt. Windham Veevaert receives the company guidon from Lt. Col. Shanon Cotta, commander of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, signifying his assumption of command of Forward Support Company. Veevaert relieved outgoing commander Capt. Matthew Rodrigue in a May 2 ceremony in Brunswick. Photo courtesy of Sgt. Ashley Lavigne

First Lt. Windham Veevaert received command of the Maine National Guard’s Forward Support Company, 133rd Engineer Battalion, from Capt. Matthew Rodrigue, May 2, in Brunswick.

“I am so proud to have served with all of you,” said Rodrigue in his farewell remarks. “The soldiers and leaders standing behind you are the future of this company. Push them, train them, teach them, and the FSC legacy will live on.”

“Each soldier is important. Each skill that they bring is important,” said Veevaert in his charge to the company. “The family and support network around each soldier is important. Our actions, our planning, our communications will all reflect this truth.”

Veevaert is a native of Belfast and is a full time National Guard employee with the logistics section at Camp Chamberlain in Augusta. He has been a member of the Maine Army National Guard for six years.

Rodrigue is from Richmond and also works full time in Augusta as an assistant training officer in the operations section. His new military position will be as a staff officer in the 120th Regional Support Group in Bangor.

Forward Support Company’s mission is to provide combat sustainment support to an engineer battalion or a maneuver element such as a brigade combat team. Together with Headquarters and Headquarters Company , the two units make up the command element of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, which traces its lineage back to June 1760.