Deployed soldiers from 13th ESC celebrate unit’s 47th birthday in Afghanistan with teammates

Photo By Capt. Monika Comeaux | Service members file through the line to get a piece of the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command birthday cake Sept. 24 at Camp Eggers, Afghanistan. The event also celebrates teamwork and accomplishments of the Deputy Command of Support Operations under NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. The reason the birthday celebration was organized is because more than 130 members of DCOM-SPO have deployed from 13th ESC to support the logistics training mission. The unit at their home station of Fort Hood, Texas, had several birthday week events. To send a happy birthday message, deployed members of the "Lucky 13th" sent a birthday greeting video home for all to see.  

CAMP EGGERS, AFGHANISTAN

09.24.2012

Story by Capt. Monika Comeaux 

13th Armored Corps Sustainment Command (13th ESC)

CAMP EGGERS, Afghanistan – Service members from the Deputy Command of Support Operations, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan came together Sept. 24 to celebrate the 47th birthday of the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command here.

Although most service members serving in DCOM-SPO were deployed individually, 136 of the U.S. soldiers in the command come from the same unit, the 13th ESC.

Participants bowed their heads while one of the 13th officers lead them in prayer, watched a short video about the unit’s history, and Brig. Gen. Clark W. LeMasters, DCOM-SPO and 13th ESC commander made a short address before cutting the birthday cake.

“I am not here to only celebrate the heritage of the unit that some of us deployed from; I am here to celebrate the accomplishments of everyone in DCOM SPO,” said LeMasters.

“We have every service except coast guard within our ranks. We have 23 troop contributing nations within DCOM-SPO. You handle infrastructure, you handle network development, and you handle logistics. Our Afghan partners are getting better in logistics, they are getting better in sustaining themselves,” complemented LeMasters his team.

Following traditions of military cake cutting, the commander asked the youngest and oldest deployed 13th ESC soldiers, Spc. Ariel Gallarzo, an ammunition handler, and Lt. Col. Ronald Jack, the chief of the fuel and ammunition assistance team within DCOM-SPO, to assist him and Command Sgt. Maj. Terry E. Parham to cut the cake with a sword.

“It was a pretty celebration; I wasn’t expecting such a good outcome,” said Shannon K. Armant Jr., the J4 (logistics) non-commissioned officer in charge. Armant has been with the unit since July of 2011. He assisted with organizing the event, helped with the set up and teardown. It is not easy to get a cake in Afghanistan, but with the help of the Camp Eggers dining facility, the unit got to celebrate with a cake that fed all attendees and bore the unit’s colors.

Deployed members of the 13th ESC only has a little over two months left before they re-unite with the rest of the unit at Fort Hood, and if still with the unit, all should get to celebrate the unit’s 48th birthday next year stateside.

• Date Taken: 09.24.2012
• Date Posted: 09.25.2012 02:13
• Story ID: 95240
• Location: CAMP EGGERS, AF