Photo By Amabilia Payen | Soldiers assigned to 961st Engineer Company, U.S. Army Reserve, deplane the aircraft...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas - The 961st Engineer Company, U.S. Army Reserve from Sharonville, Ohio, returned stateside after a nine-month deployment in the Middle East, Feb. 18, at the Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Air Control Group airfield.
The 961st Eng. Company assisted in retrograde operations in Afghanistan under the leadership of 2nd Engineer Brigade, tearing down structures at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan.
“It was a joint-service mission, where the 961st [Eng. Company] lead the mission,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Bauer, leader, 2nd Platoon, 961st Eng. Company. “We had a vertical squad from 876th Engineer Company assist us and we also worked with the (U.S. Navy) Seabees.”
According to Bauer, his platoon had to manually take down a two-story building using only jackhammers and sledge hammers, because of the proximity of another building that was still in use. Bauer explained it was a rough mission because the structure had been built “like a bridge, with steel reinforced concrete.” His platoon, along with the vertical engineers from the 876th Eng. Company and the Seabees, could only manage to break up a square meter of concrete every half hour.
Once the top level was down, Bauer and his crew were able to finally bring in four excavators and three dump trucks to tear down the rest, making the mission a little easier allowing them to finish ahead of schedule. The early completion prompted his crew to finish the rest of the complex that included three case buildings which “looked like giant soda cans laying on their side.”
“It totaled up to approximately 10,000 man-hours between the two engineer companies and the Sea Bees,” said Bauer. “The 961st, ourselves, had about 5,000 man-hours.” The crew ripped up a couple of football field-sized lots of concrete foundations, and when the mission was finally done, it was a vast, empty space. Bauer said the work allowed his Soldiers’ skills and abilities to shine and they were rewarded and commended for a job well done.
“Most of these guys were working six days a week, without a break,” said Capt. Andre Barker, commander, 961st Eng. Company. “They adapted very well to a kind-of unforeseen mission change.”
Barker is proud of all of his Soldiers and thanks the 528th Engineer Battalion who supported them in theater.
“They let me do my job and manage the company,” said Barker. “They let us take the ball and run with it.” Barker says they are happy to be home and ready to knock out the demobilization process with the Mobilization and Deployment branch of the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security office.
This deployment was 961st Eng. Company’s first time in Afghanistan. Prior to this mission, the company deployed to Iraq for operation Iraqi Freedom from 2009 to 2010.
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2015 17:22 |
| Story ID: | 156267 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | SHARONVILLE, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 370 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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