Military News
Kind act of hard work promotes morale
By 13d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Public Affairs
Nov 10, 2009 - 6:16:08 PM

Blackanthem Military News

Staff Sgt. Antwain Stokes, a supply noncommissioned officer in charge from Miami, Fla., and Sgt. Patrick Mierta, a supply technician from Jackson, N.J., and members of the 208th Financial Management Co., 96th Special Troops Battalion, 96th Sustainment Brigade, have been working hard on the unit's new deck and taking time away from their normal day to make sure it gets completed. After only a few weeks and only two soldiers working part time on the construction, the first part of the deck is beginning to take shape. By the end of the construction, the deck will wrap around the side and entire back of the building.

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - The 208th Financial Management Co., 96th Special Troops Battalion, 96th Sustainment Brigade, out of Mannheim, Germany, has begun construction on a new deck, but it's not engineers and construction workers that are building this deck. It's the everyday soldiers that have taken up the task.

Sgt. Patrick Mierta, a supply technician from Jackson, N.J., and Staff Sgt. Antwain Stokes, a supply noncommissioned officer in charge from Miami, Fla., began constructing the deck in early October. Stokes and Mierta have come to be known around the unit as the all-around handymen because of their craftsmanship. "Thanks to Sgt. Mierta and Staff Sgt. Stokes, the soldiers will have a great place to host their BBQs and relax as a group after work hours," said Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Pecorella a detachment sergeant and a Brooklyn, N.Y. native.  "They are truly raising the unit morale by taking their free time to construct something that can be used by everyone."

Pecorella also said that talks of constructing a deck had been in the air for several months, but due to logistical issues, the 208th was not able to begin construction. After finally getting through all the red tape, the 208th was able to order the materials for the project.

The engineering unit which had agreed to construct the deck earlier in the year was now redeploying, and their replacements were booked with countless missions upon arrival. This left the new engineering unit no time to construct the deck for the 208th. With only a couple of months left before the 208th redeployed, Stokes and Mierta decided that they themselves would build the new deck.  "We already had the materials sitting at the unit and all the necessary tools, so it was too easy for us to look at this and decide to do it ourselves" said Mierta.

Even though the unit will be leaving Iraq soon, the deck construction will still continue and be finished in time for their replacement's arrival. Some might say that the unit should not even bother constructing the deck with such a short period of time before they leave. The 208th soldiers would have to disagree. "The unit before us built a recreation trailer for the soldiers about a month before they left Iraq," said Spc. Denetra Johnson, an operations clerk from Oklahoma City, Okla.  "They built it knowing that they would only use it for a short period and handed us the keys when they left. We enjoyed using that trailer throughout our entire deployment, and now we're doing the same thing with our replacements. We are going to leave them a great deck that they will be able to enjoy for their entire time in Iraq. I think it's really neat that we get to do this as kind of a welcome gift."