Photo By Lt. Col. Brandon Mace | U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Chris Mullin, operational officer for operational sustainment...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – This past weekend, members of the 90th Sustainment Brigade returned from their mission to the Middle East where they were advising and assisting the Afghan Army and Police with logistics and supply chain management.
The small team left for their mission in September of last year, taking over the mission from a team of National Guardsmen. U.S. Army Reserve Col. Daniel Hershkowitz, commander of the 90th SB, said he was happy to see his Soldiers back after such a successful mission.
“It shows the confidence the Army has in assigning the 90th to represent the U.S. on this mission,” said Hershkowitz. “Some of these Soldiers were selected while others volunteered to go over and be mentors to our allies.”
Hershkowitz said he had good communication with the deployed Soldiers and even got reports back from a few active duty leaders he knew from previous assignments. All reports were positive.
“Two colonels I worked with before were in their hierarchy and both emailed me to let me know our Soldiers were meeting the mission,” said Hershkowitz. “It was a really great deployment. No reports of any issues, just positive feedback.”
U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Philip Rule was brought to the 90th for this mission from the 316th Quartermaster Battalion out of Okmulgee, OK. His team worked for the Directorate of National Logistics Department alongside the Afghan Ministry of Interior.
“DNL’s mission is to advise on logistics such as supply, maintenance, ammo, weapons, fuel, transportation, and the overall logistics process throughout Afghanistan for the Army and Police,” said Rule.
Rule said he felt the mission was a success. The instruction and mentorship he and the team provided the Afghan Army and Police helped them improve their overall readiness.
“We worked very hard to teach them to use the formal supply process that is in place,” said Rule. “We educated them on how important it was to anticipate and project supply needs rather than requesting after all supplies were dangerously low, and to utilize their chain of command to request supplies.”
In addition to his role as a petroleum advisor, Rule was selected as a linguistic manager and guardian angel. As a linguistic manager he managed six local-national linguists supporting unit missions in Kabul, but he said his really enjoyed his role as a guardian angel.
“As a guardian angel I was dual purposed,” said Rule, “the missions I was not advising on, I was a guardian angel for the primary advisor on ground, so they could advise while my mission was to keep them safe.”
U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Chris Mullin was another member of the 90th team. He worked behind the scenes as an operations officer focused on operational sustainment.
“All logistics came through our offices,” said Mullin. “We would process all purchases then transfer them to the Afghan Army or Police. We would help determine what they needed and where it went, then we supported them in distribution.”
Mullin deployed with the 4th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) in 2015, and as the roster for this mission came together he saw some names he knew. He said even though they didn’t work together on a daily basis, it was nice to have some friendly faces on the team.
“I had previously deployed with four other Soldiers on this mission,” said Mullin. “I knew that if I needed something, we could work it thorough because we already had that relationship.”
All in all it was a successful mission and the Soldiers are happy to be back home. Hershkowitz is proud of his team and how they have upheld the reputation of the 90th Sustainment Brigade.
“If u look at the 90th lineage, we are the ‘tough hombres’! We are resilient and dedicated,” said Hershkowitz, “this mission is another that adds to our proud lineage.”
| Date Taken: | 06.29.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 07.01.2019 17:32 |
| Story ID: | 330011 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 361 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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