Photo By 1st Sgt. Carmen Fleischmann | Army Capt. Joe Bugel, commander of the 868th Engineer Company and 1st Sgt. Patrick...... read more read more
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STARKE, Fla. - While their name, the 689th Asphalt Detachment has only been in existence since 2007, the asphalt platoon has always paved the way as an integral part of what is now the 868th Engineer Company.
Much of the asphalt laid by the detachment can be seen around Camp Blanding Joint Training Center (CBJTC), most recently the completion of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) runway and the repaving of the internal road network at the Special Forces Compound. It is therefore fitting, that the 689th’s colors were cased for a final time during a ceremony held on post.
Camp Blanding Post Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Mike Hosford joined many other members of Florida Army National Guard leadership, Sunday, to observe the casing of the colors and bid farewell to the Soldiers of the 689th.
“The detachment deserves this type of recognition as they case their colors,” said Army Lt. Col. Kevin Becar, commander, 779th Engineer Battalion. “The contribution they’ve given the Florida National Guard over the years has been invaluable and we’re truly blessed to have assigned those Soldiers to other units throughout the organization where they can continue to do great things.”
In addition to their completed projects, one of the major contributions provided by the detachment was known as “purple training”. Purple training refers to the Army and Air Force, green and blue, training together as one joint team. This training was accomplished with the help of the Florida Air National Guard’s 202nd Red Horse Squadron, also stationed at CBJTC.
“As engineer asphalt operators, we in the 779th Engineer Battalion never actually had the paving equipment, however the Red Horse unit does,” continued Becar. “They were gracious enough to allow us to train with them and they would put our operators on their equipment and we did some very impressive projects.”
The 12V military occupational specialty (MOS) for asphalt has been eliminated not only from the Florida Guard but from the Army and the Army National Guard as a whole. It will only continue to exist in the Army Reserves.
Army Capt. Joe Bugel, commander, 868th Engineer Company said he felt humbled to be part of such a monumental, albeit bittersweet event.
“Asphalt is a very unique asset … it’s a skillset that takes quite a time to accumulate and I was always proud that we were able to do that,” said Bugel. “Losing them now, just really takes away the capability that we’ve always had as a horizontal engineer company.”
Some of the detachment’s Soldiers have remained in the engineer field as 12N’s, Horizontal Engineers, while others will be retrained in other specialties throughout the Florida Army National Guard.
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2015 16:02 |
| Story ID: | 172685 |
| Location: | STARKE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 620 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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