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Queens resident assumes duties as top non-commissioned officer for NY Army Guard artillery battalion

Guard Command Sgt. Major Neftali Perez takes on position at Jamaica-based 1st Battalion, 258th Artillery Regiment

Camp Smith Training Site, New York (11/24/2025) — New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major Neftali Perez, a Queens resident, formerly took over as the highest-ranking enlisted leader in the 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery, during a November 8 ceremony at Camp Smith Training Site near Peekskill.

As the unit's command sergeant major, Perez reports directly to the battalion command, Lt. Col. Eric Emerling on issues involving enlisted Soldier training, readiness, and morale.

Perez is replacing Command Sgt. Major Jack Martilott.

Perez has over two decades of military service.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1999 and served in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) where he earned both the Air Assault and Army Parachutist badges. He served in Korea as a member of the 2nd Infantry Division before joining the New York Army National Guard, and the 258th Field Artillery, in 2003.

Perez deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 with the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Perez has also held multiple non-commission officer roles in the 258th Artillery and served as the operations sergeant major for the 42nd Infantry Division Artillery.

Perez and his wife Dulely have two daughters.

The 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery, headquartered at the Jamaica Armory, traces its lineage back to 1809.

The unit's predecessors, organized as part of New York's state militia, earned campaign credit for some of the Civil War's most consequential engagements, including Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness.

The regiment's soldier served in both World War I and World War II and have also deployed to Iraq.

Media Attachments

New York Army National Command Sgt. Maj. Neftali Perez, the incoming senior enlisted leader of the 1st Battalion, 258th Field Artillery Regiment accepts the flag of the 1st Battalion, 258th Artillery Regiment from Lt. Col. Eric Emerling, the commander of the battalion, during a ceremony conducted at Camp Smith Training Site, near Peekskill, N.Y., Nov. 8, 2025, naming him as the battalion's top enlisted leader. (U.S. Army National Guard courtesy photo by Sgt. 1st Class Janna Enyart)

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