SSgt. Reyna Rene wishes the soldiers of the 518th Tactical Installation Networking Platoon of Fort Huachuca a good mission as they deploy to Iraq. (By Ed Honda-Herald/Review)
Posted on 10/14/2006 6:12:37 PM PDT by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — Another 50 soldiers from this southeastern Arizona post are heading for Iraq.
Friday morning, members of the 504th Signal Battalion wished fellow Signal Corps soldiers of the 518th Tactical Installation Networking Platoon good luck as they prepare to leave this weekend. Noting the battalion formation was to say “farewell within the family to the 518th Platoon,” Command Sergeant Maj. Raymond Thompson remarked he knows the group will do well in facing the challenges ahead of them.
“We (the 504th) always treated them (the platoon) as family,” he said.
The 504th is the host unit of the platoon, which is part of the 93rd Signal Brigade at Fort Gordon, Ga. The platoon, which is from the 518th Tactical Installation Networking Company at Fort Gordon is permanently assigned to Fort Huachuca, bringing the 11th Signal Brigade a special expertise in installing communication networks in fixed facilities.
The 504th’s 556th Ordnance Company, has a platoon of its soldiers assigned to the 93rd, providing equipment maintenance expertise to the Georgia-based unit.
With the notification that the 518th platoon at Fort Huachuca was being called upon to reintegrate with the 93rd for deployment, the 504th ensured the soldiers received additional training to prepare them, Thompson said, adding the 11th has deployed many times to the Middle East to provide support on the war against terrorism.
There will be a continued movement of soldiers to places where they will be in harm’s way, he said.
“We’re not close to getting the job done, because we are still sending troops over there,” the 504th’s senior noncommissioned officer said.
Echoing the fact that soldiers are constantly being deployed was Maj. Royal Ripley, the battalion’s executive officer.
Saying the Army will “continue down the path the nation has set for them,” he mentioned that many soldiers have deployed more than twice to Iraq and other global hot spots.
Because the 518th Platoon has been part of the 504th for many years, Ripley said it is only natural for the battalion to consider it family.
But, within the platoon are soldiers’ families.
The platoon leader, 1st Lt. Justin Fincham, said some of the families have left the area to be with their parents as their soldier spouses deploy for a year.
Helping the families who decided to leave resettle “was the least we could do for them, since we’ll be gone for a year,” he said.
However, some families are staying in the fort area because the platoon will return to Fort Huachuca, Fincham said.
What was helpful in preparing to deploy was having soldiers of the battalion’s 69th Signal Company, who returned to the fort earlier this year after a year’s deployment to Iraq, he said.
“The 69th gave us a walk-through of what to expect,” the platoon leader said.
Although there are general ways of doing communications work, there also are changes that can be expected in a deployment situation, Fincham said.
Mock work sites were created, so the 518th soldiers could gain some experience of running cable as the 69th’s soldiers did, he said.
The practical exercises at Fort Huachuca helped the platoon be better prepared, he said.
Once the platoon gets to its deployment area, “we will be less surprised,” Fincham said.
Members of the 504th took time to shake hands with the deploying platoon.
The 518th soldiers at Fort Huachuca are scheduled to leave sometime this weekend and fly by commercial aircraft to Georgia and join soldiers of the 93rd’s 63rd Signal Battalion, which is expected to head to Kuwait before going into Iraq, later next week.
The partnership of the Fort Huachuca and Fort Gordon communication communities is excellent, Fincham said, noting the two Army posts “have the two largest Signal Corps assets in the Army.”
herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
518th Tactical Installation Networking Platoon Departing
God bless them all and keep them safe.
ASA Vet.
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