BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - Twelve soldiers of the Army Reserves' 481st Transportation Detachment were honored during a deployment ceremony on Jan. 4, 2014, at the Ernest L. Ripley Reserve Center in Bartlesville.
Family members, friends and community supporters gathered in the Reserve Center auditorium to see their soldiers off as they depart on a nine-month tour to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
During their deployment, the 481st will be focusing on providing movement programming, highway regulation and transportation support for the movement of personnel, containers, vehicles and materials into, within and out of their assigned areas.
“We are reducing our footprint and our roll in Afghanistan by 2014 and that’s really what this mission is about,” said the 481st’s Commander, Capt. Blake J. Palmason. “We are going in to help pack up material, vehicles and track goods in and out of Afghanistan.”
Palmason says that in addition to supporting transportation operations, the 481st will assist with the training of Afghan soldiers and civilians so they will be able to continue operations like tracking goods and materials in and out of their borders on their own.
“It’s important for them to be able to track what goes in and out of their borders,” said Palmason. “Training ties into the draw down.”
With the completion of their deployment ceremony, the 481st Transportation Detachment is set to deploy on a nine-month mission to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.