Photo By Staff Sgt. Ian Kummer | California Army National Guard Sgt. Edward Rodriguez, Los Angeles resident and wheeled...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. – More than a thousand men and women from the California Army National Guard’s 40th Combat Aviation Brigade converged on Camp Roberts March 24-30 for crucial preparation for their scheduled deployment to Kuwait later this year.
The troops were on the camp for Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP), which gave them a valuable opportunity to address any medical, personal, family or financial needs that could come up during their mission overseas.
The scheduled deployment later this year will be the largest overseas mission the CAB has performed since its return from Iraq in November of 2011. In that deployment, the unit provided critical support as the only aviation brigade in the country during Operation New Dawn. During the deployment, the CAB performed more than 19,000 aviation missions and logged more than 121,000 flight hours.
Many familiar faces from the Iraq mission and earlier deployments showed up to the SRP, but they were not alone. They formed ranks with many new comrades drawn from other elements of the California Guard, and even brand new Soldiers experiencing their first year in the military. Regardless of background or experience, every one of these service members lined up at various stations that covered everything from dental exams to tax forms, which all needing to be finished before deploying, both for themselves as a team, and for their families back home.
“This wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and it was cool to get to know the people I’ll be deploying with,” said Spc. Jessica Peeples, an aviation operations specialist from the CAB’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 144th Aviation Regiment.
Each station at the SRP was manned by subject matter experts ready to answer questions and provide Soldiers with the help they needed. Issues needing more complex solutions were identified to be addressed in the upcoming months.
Staff Sgt. Maggie Ortiz, a Baldwin Park resident and the personnel noncommissioned officer in charge for the 1-140th, explained the purpose of the weeklong SRP process. “The SRP lets us know who has issues we can fix now to make the Soldiers more mission ready,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.07.2015 15:00 |
| Story ID: | 159314 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBERTS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,446 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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