Photo By Staff Sgt. George Thurmond | Sgt. Aerik Santillan, 820th Signal Command Tactical Installation Network (TIN), spends...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Sgt. George Thurmond II
45th Military History Detachment, 335th Signal Command (Theater)
SEAGOVILLE, Texas – Mayor Dennis K. Childress and Texas State Representative, Allen Vaught, were among the guests who gathered to say farewell to more than 100 Army Reserve Soldiers assigned to the 820th Signal Command Tactical Installation Network (TIN) during a ceremony held at the Seagoville Army Reserve Center, Nov. 8.
The 820th TIN, led by Capt. Jason Barrett and 1st Sgt. Kevin Tevebaugh, are scheduled for a nine-month deployment to Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Barrett and Tevebaugh served as active duty enlisted Soldiers before serving in the Army Reserves. They worked together as Department of Army civilians for the Civil Support Command in Germany and again as Army Reserve Soldiers in a subordinate unit. So it’s not by accident that the two find themselves working together again.
“One of the reasons I took this job was with the stipulation I could pick my 1st Sgt.,” said Barrett.
Tevebaugh, who was just completing a three-year tour as the 1st Sgt. of a Civil Affairs tactical company, said that he hesitated before taking on the challenge of 1st Sgt. of the 820th TIN, but was happy he did.
“Every day you prepare to deploy as an active duty soldier,” said Tevebaugh. “But as a Reserve Soldier, it’s much more preparation to deploy. Not just knowing your Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), but getting medically cleared.”
Another challenge Barrett and Tevebaugh said they face is the building up and keeping of unit moral with Soldiers being assigned to the 820th TIN from different commands and parts of the country.
“We have good soldiers,” said Barrett. “I value NCO feedback so once we put the right NCOs in the right positions, and cleared up the airways of communication for the NCOs and officers, the moral has been high.”
The mission of 820th TIN will be to train, mobilize, and deploy in support of Third Army, United States Army Central Command, where they will provide theater network operations, planning, and engineering capabilities for the Central Command’s area of responsibility.
Maj. Gen. (Ret) Gary Bunch, Texas U.S. Army Reserve Command Ambassador, Col. Lawrence Thoms, 335th Signal Command (Theater) Chief of Staff, Col. Matthew Easley, 505th Tactical Theater Signal Brigade (TTSB) Commander, Lt. Col. Joseph Papenfus, 98th Expeditionary Signal Battalion Commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Brenda Acosta, 505th TTSB Command Sgt. Maj., also attended the ceremony along with family and friends of the deploying service members.
The 820th TIN will stop at Fort Hood, Texas, for a few weeks to complete final training requirements before departing for Kuwait.
| Date Taken: | 11.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.18.2014 16:55 |
| Story ID: | 148180 |
| Location: | SEAGOVILLE, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 1,160 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Dallas-area Army Reserve unit says farewell, by SSG George Thurmond, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT