Father and daughter train for deployment

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Houx | 1st Sgt. Bob Hempstead, the first sergeant for the 1313th engineer company, poses with his daughter Pfc. Crystal Hempstead, a light wheel vehicle mechanic for the 1313th, at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center during their pre-mobilization training. The unit is scheduled to deploy in early 2009.  

UNITED STATES

09.24.2008

Story by Spc. Elizabeth Houx 

Camp Atterbury Indiana

Spc. Elizabeth Gorenc
Camp Atterbury Public Affairs

BUTLERVILLE, Ind. – While overseas deployments usually call upon Soldiers to temporarily leave families and loved ones behind, two members of the Hempstead family are scheduled to be mobilized together.

1st Sgt. Bob Hempstead and his daughter, Pfc. Crystal Hempstead, members of the 1313th Engineer Company, are scheduled to deploy to Iraq in early 2009. Currently the unit is at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center conducting pre-mobilization training.

Wanting to gain overseas experience, Crystal Hempstead said she transferred into the unit and volunteered for the upcoming deployment. The fact that her father would be her first sergeant had no bearing on her decision to join the unit.

"I knew there was a war going on when I made the choice to enlist," she said. "I also wanted to deploy right after Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training to gain experience to be a better Soldier, so joining this unit and deploying with them seemed like the perfect option."

Training and working together in the same environment at MUTC is nothing new to the Hempsteads. Bob Hempstead is the senior operations non-commissioned officer at MUTC, while Crystal Hempstead is the administrative assistant for Col. Chris Kelsey at MUTC.

Bob Hempstead said that their experiences from working in a military environment together prevented them from walking into training together blindly.

"We had a talk before we came here about keeping our family life and military life separate," said Bob Hempstead. "As first sergeant, I have 180 Soldiers and it's important to treat everyone equally and be professional."

Even though the Hempsteads train together, they rarely see each other due to their busy schedules.

"Training has been great so far and troop morale is really high," said Crystal Hempstead. "Not only is it fun, but it's great to know that you can complete something like clearing houses and know that your buddy has your back."

Bob Hempstead said the engineer company was the first unit group to conduct pre-mobilization training at MUTC.

"It was pretty easy to set up training at MUTC for our unit since I work with operations here," said Bob Hempstead. "We hope to set the way for other units to eventually complete pre-mobilization training through here."

Training consisted of land navigation, improvised explosive device detection, military operations on urban terrain training, driver's training and combatives.

The second portion of the company's training is scheduled to take place at Camp Atterbury. There, they will conduct weapons qualifications and range skills training.

Both Hempsteads said that the overall unit cohesion, high morale and skills honed at MUTC transfers through the rest of their training and deployment.

• Date Taken: 09.24.2008
• Date Posted: 09.24.2008 16:03
• Story ID: 24092
• Location: US