Free Republic

FORT HUACHUCA — A time-honored Army tradition officially marked the return of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion to its home post in Arizona Friday morning. Signifying its return, the battalion stood on Brown Parade Field as the unit’s flag, held by Spc. Jessica Mortimer, was uncased and unfurled by the battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. David Thomas, and Command Sgt. Maj. John Reinburg.

FORT HUACHUCA — Although a Thursday ceremony was short and simple, it was full of symbolism. Members of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion stood on Thunderbird Field. As a brisk, cool wind blew through the formation, Team 40th’s battalion commander Lt. Col. Linda Jantzen reminded the soldiers that their 15-month deployment was over. She praised them for their accomplishments while in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan. The first symbolic act was having the rear detachment’s guidon furled and cased and marched off the field. The rear detachment’s mission was completed. Then Jantzen and battalion Command Sgt. Maj. John Womble marched...

FORT HUACHUCA — A soldier returning from a 15-month deployment was hurried off a civilian contract plane Tuesday morning and immediately taken to the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center. It wasn’t that Sgt. Jamal Smith was ailing. He wasn’t. His wife, Cherrelle, also an Army sergeant, was in the hospital in labor to deliver the couple’s first child. Smith was one of more than 225 soldiers of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion returning to the post after most served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar for 15 months. The first group of 314 battalion soldiers arrived on the fort Monday...

The one who was waiting for his father was 7-month-old Jace, conceived when the noncommissioned officer was on two weeks leave during a 15-month deployment with the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion. “He’s never held his new son,” said wife Jen, who was in Barnes Field House on the post. Hundreds of other family members and friends welcomed back the first of two contingents of the battalion returning from deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar. The first group of 314 soldiers of the battalion arrived at Libby Army Airfield at 5:07 p.m. when the tires of the World DC-10 landed...

FORT HUACHUCA — Nearly 600 soldiers of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Brigade will be returning next week after completing a 15-month deployment to the Middle East and other areas. Most of the battalion, which is part of the 11th Signal Brigade, left the fort in early December to provide communications network support in Iraq. Soldiers of the battalion also served in Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan, providing communication support for America’s war on terrorism. It is expected the soldiers will return in two groups over a period of two days, said Eric Hortin, a spokesman for the Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th...

advertisementRoughly 600 soldiers from Southern Arizona will be returning home next week after 15 months at war, the Army announced this morning. Members of the 40th Signal Battalion stationed at Fort Huachuca headed to the Middle East in December 2007, in a move that at the time was considered the largest single deployment of troops from the post in several years. Army officials haven’t specified when the soldiers will arrive next week, saying only that they'll return over a two-day period. The battalion is part of the 11th Signal Brigade, which specializes in building and operating internet and telecommunications systems...

DUE TO operational security issues, specifics of some tactics, techniques and procedures involved in protective services detail training are not discussed. CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — The 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion doesn’t have an 0-6 — that’s a colonel. But protecting the commander and command sergeant major is important enough for the unit to have a 16-soldier protective services detail. Being a member of the detail entails more than just acting as a stationary or walking escort, carrying a weapon and looking around. If for some reason the commander — Lt. Col. Linda Jantzen — or Command Sgt. Maj. John Womble...