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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:24:33 PM |
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Blackanthem Military News
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| Spc. Bryan Kennedy holds an M16 assault rifle at the M16/M4 Familiarization Course at Fort Dix, N.J., Sept. 10. The unit trained in Fort Dix before coming to Camp Atterbury to complete their mobilization training for Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Warrant Officer Craig Randolph) |
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. - The Army Reserve Soldiers of the 1398th Deployment Support Brigade headquartered out of Curtis Bay, Md., are wrapping up their post-mobilization training here before splitting up and simultaneously deploying to the Central Command area of Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
The 49-Soldier unit will be responsible for providing assistance in the planning, staging, preparation and documentation of movement for every unit leaving the CENTCOM area of operations, or AOR.
"We're the 'FedEx' of the military," said Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Roberts, mobility warrant officer of the 1398th. "When a package is delivered to your door step and you are asked to sign for it… We're the guy asking you to sign."
Roberts said for the next year it is the 1398th's responsibility to make sure that all units, personnel and equipment leaving the AOR are packed and loaded correctly and sent to the right place on time.
"We're here to ensure a very safe, secure and manageable process is set into place to enable a unit to go from foxhole to port and port to fort without losing a single piece of equipment," Roberts said.
The 1398th will record how many servicemembers and equipment each unit is moving out of their respective AOR. Using this information, they allocate the proper resources to ensure the Soldiers and their gear make it home safely and in a timely manner.
"This is a way to support the war fighter whether they are deploying or [returning home]," said Maj. Ivelitza Roman, executive officer of the 1398th DSB. "Supporting the war fighter - without us they are not mission capable. We are behind the scenes orchestrating everything the war fighter may need to conduct their missions in a timely manner."
From rounds to tanks and individual Soldiers to brigades, accounting for everything and everyone moving into and out of the CENTCOM AOR can sound like a daunting task. However, the Soldiers of the 1398th have been not only training for this mission for years, they have been executing it.
Col. Sean Tuomey, the 1398th DSB commander said close to half of the unit deployed together conducting the same mission in 2005. The veterans pass their knowledge on to the younger Soldiers during drill, and on annual training, the unit will assist the active duty army with shipping operations.
"We don't put the war paint on and run through the woods during our training," Tuomey said. "We will actually work the shipping yards of Fort Hood for example, and conduct their transportation operations for two weeks."
Tuomey feels ready for his unit's upcoming deployment and said they have been training for it for the last two and a half years.
Beyond the stateside transportation operations and training here at Camp Atterbury, the unit has recently completed training at the Fort Dix, N.J. Regional Training Center where they focused on combat skills, weapons ranges, improvised explosive device training and other basic Soldiering skills.
"My Soldiers are ready to do this mission," Toumey said. "We've been together for a long time. We have great communication in place and an excellent Family Readiness Group program. Without the constant worry of their loved ones back home they can focus on the mission at hand. We will succeed."
ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
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| Maj. Ivelitza Roman, 1398th Deployment Support Brigade Executive Officer, checks the feed tray of an M240 machine gun during the Intermediate Machine Gun Familiarization Course at Fort Dix, N.J, Sept. 10. (U.S. Army photo by Warrant Officer Craig Randolph) |
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