Photo By Tulara McCauley | Soldiers from the 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion deplane after arriving at the...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas – The 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion from the Delaware and South Carolina Army National Guard had their final service members return stateside on Feb. 22, at the Arrival/Departure Air Control Group here.
Comprised of soldiers from various states, the 198th ESB deployed with four companies.
According to Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Hardy, operations noncommissioned officer in charge of the 198th ESB, bringing everybody home safely with no loss of life or serious injuries was the greatest accomplishment the unit did.
“That is the biggest thing in my mind is that we went and we all came home safe,” said Hardy. “Other than that, the things that this unit accomplished was phenomenal, without converting the feet into miles, they probably ran enough cable to circumvent the globe several times. They did an outstanding job.”
Staff Sgt. Richard LaRocca, a native of Wilmington, Del., compared this deployment to the last three he did by reflecting on his first leadership role.
“This deployment, I was the [noncommissioned officer in charge], before, I was more in a team role,” said LaRocca. “We had big shoes to fill for the guys we replaced, they set the standard high, and we kept the bar high.”
LaRocca will be going home to his two young sons, one of which held off a birthday party to wait for dad to come home in order to celebrate it together.
“Technology is great, we did Facetime, and we didn’t skip a beat. This is his third deployment with dad,” said LaRocca.
Twenty-year old Sgt. Jamarr Thomas, satellite systems specialist with Alpha Company, 198th ESB, will be returning to his civilian job with Mountaire Farms in Millsboro, Del. Thomas claimed that his coworkers miss him.
“It’s a fun job,” said Thomas. “My military background helps out.”
Thomas also gained vast leadership experience from his deployment.
“When I first deployed I was a specialist, so I got promoted … and it was a learning process for me to learn how to deal with the soldiers,” said Thomas. He will also be returning to his young son and a newborn niece whom he hasn’t met yet.
Hardy expressed the pride in the work accomplished in Afghanistan by the 198th ESB.
“I think for me, this battalion, the way they performed, I would match them up against anybody else, active duty, reserve or National Guard, it doesn’t matter,” said Hardy. “A lot of the active-duty counterparts that we worked with everyday, made comments … as to the capabilities of the National Guard and what this unit could do. They were very impressed with these guys and gals.”
The 198th ESB provides command and control, administration and log support for staff planning. The unit also provides network management, retransmits from line-of-sight, beyond LOS assets, cable and wire assets and data services. Members of the 198th ESB come from the states of Delaware and South Carolina.
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.03.2014 17:33 |
| Story ID: | 121442 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | MILLSBORO, DE, US |
| Hometown: | WILMINGTON, DE, US |
| Web Views: | 550 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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