Around the World and Back Again, the story of the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

Photo By Sgt. Maj. Rich Greene | Sgts. Kiory Potes (left) and Kaleo Anderson (right) sitting outside the Bucca Inn on Camp Bucca, Iraq, Jan. 15, giving "Shaka" which is a local hand gesture to say hello or "Aloha."  

CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT

01.22.2009

Story by Maj. Pamela Ellison 

29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

By Maj. Pamela Ellison
29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - How is it that you can go all the way to Kuwait to end up being home again? It seems that two of Hawaii's own Soldiers, now in Company E, 29th Brigade Support Battalion, Forward Support Company, Infantry, from the Arizona Army National Guard have come half-way around the world, only to find themselves as close to Hawaii as they've been in some time.

The connection is a bit unusual, in that Company E, 29th BSB, FSC is a unit of the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Brigade Support Battalion but is attached to the 1-158th Infantry Battalion of the AZARNG. This happened when the 29th IBCT transitioned from a separate infantry brigade organization into the modular IBCT creating FSCs to provide sustainment support to the maneuver, reconnaissance, and fires battalions of the 29th IBCT.

Sgts. Kaleo Anderson and Kiory Potes, formerly of the 29th Brigade Support Battalion of the Hawaii Army National Guard moved to Arizona in order to attend college, and in doing so, transferred to the 1-158th INF's Company E, FSC, a unit that is now deployed to Camp Bucca, Iraq.

Camp Bucca is considered a model detention facility and has a significantly important role in the detention of enemy prisoners of war.

Their transfer to the 1-158th INF's Company E, FSC will allow them to finish their college education, while maintaining their membership in the Army National Guard. Obviously, their college attendance is on hold right now, while they are performing their duties at Camp Bucca. But, once they return to Arizona, they can jump back into their studies before returning to Hawaii, where they say they intend to rejoin their fellow Soldiers of the 29th IBCT's Brigade Support Battalion.

Col. Bruce E. Oliveira, 29th IBCT Commander, was able to visit the Soldiers of Company E, FSC as they were transitioning through Kuwait on the way to their new home in Iraq. He was able to share with the Soldiers of the unit the connection between the members of 1-158th INF and the 29th IBCT; clarifying the relationship of the Arizona and Hawaii Army National Guard units and explaining the background of the shared unit right shoulder sleeve insignia.

Only in the Army can you travel half way around the world and find yourself serving with Soldiers that you have either served with in the past or have a direct connection to - in this case, Kuwait is closer to Hawaii than you might ever imagine.

• Date Taken: 01.22.2009
• Date Posted: 01.22.2009 07:26
• Story ID: 29140
• Location: CAMP ARIFJAN, KW