Courtesy Photo | Spc. Carla A. Ullith (left), the personnel awards clerk for Headquarters and...... read more read more
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By Sgt. 1st Class Kerry Gerber
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — Capt. Vedner Bellot understands the art of change and fixing things on the fly.
Bellot, a native of Miami, Fla., and the officer-in-charge of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), S-1, and his non-commissioned officer-in-charge, Sgt. 1st Class Roddey A. Franklin, a native of Sumter, S.C., had little time to build a team before leaving Fort Stewart, Ga.
Upon arriving in Kuwait, Bellot moved north to Forward Operating Base Q-West while Franklin remained in Kuwait to receive the rest of the unit.
This left then Cpl. Shafon Q. Griggs, HHC, STB, a Passaic, N.J. native, to start setting up S-1 operations at Joint Base Balad.
The shop inherited more than 2,000 Soldiers, covering 26 different locations, and nearly 50 unit identification codes with different transition dates; a constant blur of incoming and outgoing personnel.
Now promoted, Sgt. Griggs was called upon to stand in as the NCOIC during the drawdown efforts of last summer when the shop conducted four separate Joint Personnel Accountability inventories.
Both Bellot and Franklin said they worked tirelessly to train their soldiers, to set up a functional personnel shop, and to maintain it. However, the highlight of their success is the S-1 awards section, run by Spc. Carla Y. Ullith, HHC, STB, and a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Ullith worked the mailroom before the unit deployed, but when she arrived she was transitioned to the S-1 awards section. It is estimated that she alone has processed nearly 2,000 awards during the deployment, Franklin said.
She and the rest of the shop successfully met the intent of STB Commander Lt. Col. Heidi J. Hoyle, a native of Bay City, Mich., that no Soldier would leave the theater without their award.
Amidst the wave of personnel actions, learning her job, and even changing her mind about staying in the Army, Ullith said none of this was her greatest challenge.
“Being away from my son was my greatest challenge,” she said.
These challenges, however didn’t affect Ullith’s focus on running a successful section.
“We have nearly a 100 percent error rate for awards,” Bellot said. “This means that awards submitted for higher and/or final approval rarely return to the shop unsigned. We got commended by the brigade commander for having the best awards section in the brigade.”
The unique dynamic of the Special Troops Battalion might be an impossible task to some, but for an engaged leadership team of Bellot and Franklin, the challenge inspired them to rise above the rest.
| Date Taken: | 03.22.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2011 16:30 |
| Story ID: | 68173 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 165 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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