QM Soldiers erect flagpole, exercise traditions

13th Armored Corps Sustainment Command (13th ESC)
Courtesy Story

Date: 06.18.2010
Posted: 06.18.2010 07:21
News ID: 51586
QM Soldiers erect flagpole, exercise traditions

Story by: 1st Lt. Herbert Karg

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq —Soldiers with the 716th Quartermaster Company, 13th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) erected a flag pole June at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

Soldiers with the company will be able to send the flags home to their families with a certificate stating it was flown in Iraq.

“We’ve wanted to get a flag pole since we first arrived in Iraq back in November,” said Capt. James Beck, 716th Quartermaster Company commander, and Butler, Pa., native. “Now that we have one, we’re trying to fly a different flag every day and also give our Soldiers the chance to raise and lower the flag. Many of them have not.”

“It’s a great honor and privilege to be able to fly the Flag of the United States over Iraq,” said
Spc. Alvin Garcia, charge of quarters clerk with the 716th Quartermaster Company and a Jersey City, N.J. native, said it’s an honor and privilege to be able to fly the American flag in Iraq.

“I’m thankful and proud that I have gotten the chance to send the colors up the flagpole,” he said.
The new pole arrived in time for Flag Day, and is used exclusively by the 716th Quartermaster Company. It is intended to be used for the duration of the tour and to be left in place for future units.

“It’s good for the unit, it’s good for the Soldiers and it’s good for the families back home supporting us,” Beck said.