Army unit wraps up last 15-month rotation here

Published March 17, 2009
By Tech. Sgt. Shad Eidson
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Soldiers, with the 2-43 Air Defense Artillery Battalion, have maintained a near 15-month vigil of the Patriot defense mission here and are now preparing to pass the torch onto their sister unit -- the 3-43 ADA.

The 2-43 ADA deployed from Fort Bliss, Texas, in 2008 taking over operations and maintenance of the Patriot system, which provides theater air and missile defense to the gulf region.

"We provide protection against hostile aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles," said Maj. Jason Vranes, the battalion's executive officer.

The battalion, which works closely with the Combined Forces Air Component Commander for defense of the region, never fired a Patriot missile at a hostile target, but has been at the ready to execute that mission at a moment's notice.

"That is a key point stressed to the Soldiers. They are not out there knocking down doors, finding insurgents or on the front lines. But if called upon, they have to be ready to go," said Major Vranes. "We ensured by being both trained and maintained, that we remained ever vigilant."

While deployments are stressful, what helped Soldiers endure their long deployment was their treatment by the command team of the host wing, said Sgt. 1st Class Donald Marshall, 2-43 ADA NCO in charge of operations. That treatment alleviated some of the stress.

"All the shops, from the dirt boys to the structures section, played key roles in helping us succeed, and their willingness to work with us really made it easy to accomplish the mission," said Sergeant Marshall, who hails from Sacramento, Calif.

With support from the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, the battalion moved their command and operations section across the base to new facilities. The entire move was completed in 72 hours while maintaining their readiness to execute the Patriot mission.

This rotation has proven to be a great training opportunity to stress the system in harsh environments, the major said. While deployed, Soldiers do not have the added distractions of garrison taskings. Instead, leaders can focus their soldiers' efforts on the mission at hand.

"In garrison, you may not train on the system in a field environment, but once every two months. Given those constraints, you lose the opportunity to maintain the equipment during continuous operations," said the Knoxville, Tenn., native.

Here, the battalion can place one Patriot system into a maintenance state while another system stays in an operational state ready to execute, he said. This opportunity let Soldiers establish an in-depth maintenance program of detailed, daily tasks to include when to clean, fix or repair their equipment.

"They execute a 10-day deep maintenance cycle," Major Vranes said. "Units don't have the time and manpower back at garrison to devote 10 straight days to their system. During the unique opportunities this deployment, Soldiers have greatly improved their system while also increasing their knowledge base."

This maintenance routine has successfully kept the sensitive systems operating in the heat and sand, he said.

The same additional time available for increased maintenance has proven invaluable for better training, Major Vranes said. The whole battalion participated in numerous training exercises. The Soldiers manned their battle stations for three or four days in order to replicate increased alert states.

"That training allowed the Soldiers to develop his or her skill set on a level you can't get in garrison," he said.

The real challenges have been more than the heat and dust, said Major Vranes. There was initial concern about the troops focus over time from the monotony of day-to-day operations.

"We combat that with battalion sports days, morale and welfare trips to see local sites and training opportunities," Major Vranes said.

Just as the previous battalion, who stood up the system, planned for a successful hand over, the 2-43 ADA used their time to improve procedures for their replacements. The Soldiers are switching their focus from heightened training and in-depth maintenance to inventory and procedure checks to set up a successful transition nearing the end of the tour.

"The Soldiers have made a lot of improvements. We definitely came here focused and are leaving it better than how we found it," said Sergeant Marshall.

One area the Soldiers worked to perfect was several standard operating procedures for the daily operations.

"They have made clear steps to follow for those coming in behind us, adding some of the things that were not laid out when we first got here," said Sergeant Marshall.

"I am very impressed. These Soldiers went above and beyond what anyone in leadership was expecting. The old cliché, 'they rose to the challenge' is true," said Maj. Vranes. "They showed us time and time again that wherever there was an expected standard, they continually exceeded that standard. As a result of their hard work, we do not feel that we are giving our replacements much to improve."