69th’s work receives honors

Sierra Vista Herald, Sierra Vista Arizona ^ | Oct 29, 2005 | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq — If it weren’t for cable dogs from the 69th Signal Company, soldiers of a Fort Bragg unit will be staying in this Middle East nation instead of returning to North Carolina nearly a month early, the commander of the 50th Signal Battalion said Friday.

Praising the small group of Signal Corps soldiers from Fort Huachuca, Lt. Col. Cedric Rice said once the 69th GIs arrived about five months ago, the communications infrastructure at this former Iraqi Air Force base went in rapidly.

“The 69th came and jumped in there,” Rice said.

Running cable is a critical part of installation communications. Rice said the Arizona unit — the only active duty unit in the Army with a mission of installing communication lines — did extremely well.

“This is what they do. They’ve done it very, very well,” he said. “That’s what got the battalion (the 50th) to go home early.”

Sgt. 1st Class Tammi Linwood said Rice was on the mark.

“It was all true,” said Linwood, the 69th’s site noncommissioned-officer-in charge at this complex near the Iraqi city of Balad.

The 50th didn’t have a dedicated group of cable installers and used other Signal soldiers to run lines before the soldier of the 69th’s 3rd Platoon arrived.

What took 50th soldiers two weeks to run, “We did in a week,” Linwood said.

Rice held a large-scale ceremony in which he awarded medals, certificates of appreciation and commander’s coins.

The original 13 members of the 3rd Platoon’s team received certificates of appreciation and Rice’s commander’s coin.

Another of the unit’s soldiers, Spc. Bruce Long, an automotive mechanic, was presented a coin by Rice from the commander of the 35th Signal Brigade. The 35th was the parent organization of the 50th. The 69th was subordinated to the 50th while at Camp Anaconda.

Of Long, Linwood said if it weren’t for his ability to keep the 69th’s vehicles going, especially the Ditch Witch, used to dig trenches to bury cable, it would have been difficult to meet the deadlines, the cable dogs set for themselves.

But it was the cable dogs’ hard work that contributed to “the success of the battalion.” Rice said.

Linwood added, “My guys had a lot of impact on them (the 50th) getting out early.”

Although no medals were presented to soldiers of the 69th Signal Company’s 3rd Platoon stationed at Camp Anaconda, 14 were presented certificates of appreciation and/or coins by the commander of the 50th Signal Battalion, Lt. Col. Cedric Rice. Medals are usually put in by a unit’s command, even if soldiers are assigned to another organization during deployment.

Receiving the certificates and coins were:

Sgt. 1st Class Tammi Linwood

Sgt. Victor Camacho

Sgt. Melina Gardner

Sgt. Mark Hendricks

Sgt. William Lawson

Spc. Cameron Hamilton

Spc. Richard Levei

Spc. Jonathan Luke

Spc. Derrik Walker

Spc. Paul Webber

Spc. Cedric Wingate

Pfc. April Greene

Pvt. Bryant Dew

Levei was not present to receive his awards, as he was on leave.

Spc. Bruce Long received a 35th Signal Brigade commander’s coin.

All the 69th’s soldiers are cable dogs, except for Long, who is a automotive mechanic.

SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.

[SandRat]

69th Signal Cable-Dogs get a pat on the head

[E.G.C.]

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