Last year was a very different one for North Country state Sen. Mark Walczyk, who as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, deployed overseas, missing almost a full legislative session.

He has, however, returned safely, and is ready to get back to work.

What You Need To Know

  • State Sen. Mark Walczyk, a U.S. Army reservist, was called to deploy to the Middle East for nine months

  • He returned home safely in December and was able to spend the holidays with family

  • He says the Republican Party did great in November, and he's hopeful his party will make a big impact this year in state government

It was a little less than a year ago. Walczyk, an Army reservist, announced he had been deployed for a nine-month stint in the Middle East. He missed the entire 2024 session.

“I was very honored by the leadership in the Senate to allow me to have the floor just to talk about my family, and and how difficult it was going to be to to leave my community, my family, my constituents and the job that I frankly, love to do,” Walczyk said.

As a member of the U.S. Army Reserve 484th Forward Engineer Support Team, Walczyk, a captain, spent nearly 10 months – 290 days – in the Middle East, overseeing construction projects in multiple countries.

“For me, it's always been God, family, country. When I got that call, there was no other answer than 'Yes, I'm ready to serve,'” Walczyk said.

Thankfully, last month, the senator and every member of his unit returned home safely – in time for the holidays.

“So, I was able to to enjoy the entire month of December and all of that magic with my 1-year-old, my 3-year-old and my wife,” he added.

As he gets set to return to Albany, he said he is ready to go, ready to advocate for the state, ready to advocate for the Senate district.

“it's going to be fighting for the things that we care about here in upstate,” he said.

Walczyk says his deployment ended up lasting about three weeks longer than it was supposed to, but all in all, his team successfully did everything it set out to do.

As he closely watched November's election results from afar, he now firmly believes that the Republican Party, which not only grew in the Senate but eliminated a Democratic supermajority, is trending upwards and he can make the difference that he hopes to help with.

“I think there are things on the horizon that New Yorkers, really should give them a lot of hope,” he said.

The work begins Wednesday.