Photo By Adam Holguin | Capt. Ryan T. Johnson, commander, 116th Engineer Company gives a thumbs up after...... read more read more
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The 116th Engineer Company, a Utah Army National Guard unit out of Spanish Fork, departed Fort Bliss Nov. 20 for a deployment in the Middle East. The “Diggers” completed premobilization training with the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization, and Security in preparation for their scheduled nine-month deployment.
“We will be scattered through the four winds throughout (U.S.) Central Command,” Capt. Ryan T. Johnson, commander, 116th Eng. Co. said. “Based on the needs, we’ll be going up through Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan, (and) the United Arab Emirates for support in those areas.”
The potential splintering of the unit to complete mission objectives has been a focal point of the preparation.
“We really started training the junior leadership. We have a great base of senior noncommissioned officers, so we really focused on building those junior NCOs and the junior Soldiers to fill in the next slot,” Johnson said. “Everybody knows how to do the next person’s job. They are prepared, they know how to handle themselves, handle troops, because we will be spread out in small teams and we’ll need to be able to make sure that they are taken care of.”
For Sgt. Tyson Small, communications sergeant, who will be deploying for the first time, the training helped with unit cohesion.
“We are together for the long haul. There is a lot more esprit de corps,” Small said. “A lot of people are discovering brothers that they didn’t have before. It’s a good feeling. Makes you happy to deploy with Soldiers when they are a lot more intertwined with each other.”
Inside of the Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Air Control Group, the Diggers were demonstrating a heightened energy, most in the horizontal engineering unit eager to begin their journey in earnest.
“I feel excited, very excited. Just ready to go,” said Spc. Jake E. Baker, heavy equipment operator, 116th Eng. Co.
“A lot of the people in the unit are ready to get over there and get started,” said Sgt. 1st Class Russell Shields, section sergeant, 116th Eng. Co., who is deploying for a second time. “Pre-mob is always a time where you are just itching to start your mission… to start pushing dirt…I’m looking forward to getting over there and getting to work.”
The Diggers have some recent experience stateside after flooding took out roadways in Utah and Colorado a couple of years ago. It was an experience some in the unit look back on fondly while looking forward to the potential missions that await them in country.
“The most pride I’ve had in the military is when we got sent out to that Colorado flood and actually did what we are trained to do – help people out and see a direct result of our work benefit people,” Baker said. “That road is still there today and people are able to get in and out of their homes. I am excited to have a similar feeling out of this deployment. I hope that we can benefit other people and benefit ourselves and that we all come home in one piece.”
The expectations and individual goals for the unit’s Soldiers varies.
“You can ask anyone else in the unit who the nerd is; I am the nerd,” Smalls said, who plans to read a lot during the deployment. “I have a little over 150 books…on physics and science, technology and philosophy, even. I read all that stuff.”
“My goal and my objective is to look out for the welfare of my guys, my Soldiers,” Shields said. “Just get them all home, bring them back safely.”
“I want to get as much experience as I can as a heavy equipment operator,” Baker said. “More career development and saving a lot of money for financial plans when I get home.”
Johnson recognizes that not only Soldiers are making sacrifices during this deployment, but the families of Soldiers as well.
“We are very appreciative of all the support from the family readiness group and all the families,” Johnson said. “We’ve received a lot of love and it helps us, it keeps us going, and it really helps us push through those tough times.”
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.15.2016 11:28 |
| Story ID: | 186404 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TX, US |
| Hometown: | SPANISH FORK, UT, US |
| Web Views: | 262 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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