Finance Soldiers Deploy to Kuwait

Photo By Sgt. Elizabeth Clark | (From left) Daniel Rogers, a financial management systems trainer with U.S. Army Financial Management Command, shows Pvt. Crystal Gonzalez, an invoice receipt processor, and Pfc. Dylan Livingston, a commercial vendor services technician, both with 24th Financial Management Support Unit, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, how to process commercial vendor pay forms on Sept. 10 at Ft. Stewart, Ga. Soldiers trained in disbursing, commercial vendor services, and internal controls and military pay support so that they can provide these services during their nine-month deployment to Kuwait. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Elizabeth White/Released)  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

10.30.2018

Story by Sgt. Elizabeth Clark 

3rd Division Sustainment Brigade

Approximately 20 Soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 24th Financial Management Support Unit, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, deployed to Kuwait on Oct. 28 from Ft. Stewart, Ga.
The three detachments within the company deploy on a rotational basis at home and abroad. Currently, their Alpha Detachment is in the Republic of Kosovo and Bravo Detachment is part of the Global Response Force. Now it’s HHD’s turn to support forces in the Middle East.
The teams nine month deployment is in support of Operation Spartan Shield to provide financial management assistance. They expect to perform disbursing, commercial vendor services, internal controls and military pay support to U.S. forces, civilians and contractors, as well as multi-national and joint commands.

“We are in charge of two offices in Iraq, one in Jordan and one in Afghanistan, including the ones in Kuwait,” said Sgt. Hali Pasden, an information technology specialist with HHD. “My job is to make sure that all the finance systems are running smoothly and all the Eagle Cash Card kiosks work.”
Soldiers in HHD will do tasks overseas that are different from what they are used to at home. They were trained for two weeks in dispersing funds, commercial vendor pay and military pay by the U.S. Army Financial Management Command so that they would be ready to tackle the mission.
“It was a lot of knowledge that we had to intake in a short period of time,” said Pvt. Crystal Gonzalez, an invoice receipt processor with HHD. “Here, I was processing and coding leave forms, there I’ll be dealing with contractors.”
Even though the challenges of learning and applying new skills and leaving their families and homes for nine months seems daunting, the Soldiers look at the deployment as an opportunity to learn and grow in their Army careers.
“They say that you don’t really do finance until you’re down range, so I’m excited to do real finance and achieve personal goals,” said Gonzalez “such as start school and work on my physical fitness to get better for this new [Army Combat Fitness] test.”

• Date Taken: 10.30.2018
• Date Posted: 10.30.2018 13:32
• Story ID: 298239
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US