By Sgt. Tracy Ellingsen
311th Expeditionary Sustainment Command
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait -- For the first time since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism, the colors of the 311th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), headquartered in West Los Angeles, were uncased in Kuwait.
Wednesday's ceremony not only marked a historic event for the command, but also for the Army Reserve as it celebrated its one hundredth anniversary.
The unit's colors, which feature three interwoven arrows forming a circle, were cased at Fort Bragg, N.C., before the Soldiers of the unit boarded the plane that would eventually take them overseas. The cased colors traveled aboard the aircraft from N.C. to Kuwait.
During the 311th's uncasing ceremony, the Soldiers of the unit stood in formation while the colorguard took its place in front. As Sgt. Patrice Conyers, a signal specialist in the 311th, slowly lowered the encased colors, Brig. Gen. William D. Frink, Jr., commander of the 311th Sustainment Command, and Command Sgt. Major Jerry L. Ayala, the unit's command sergeant major, walked forward to perform the ceremonial task.
The Soldiers of the 311th squinted through the desert sun as the colors were first uncased and then unrolled. Conyers then raised the staff to let the colors fly free in the morning breeze.
"That was a beautiful sight," said Frink after the uncasing. "This is what we've been working for."
"I think it's a monumental occasion," he added. "We are the first ESC to be deployed to Kuwait ... doing an ESC mission."
The 311th will now take over the mission of providing command of sustainment forces and managing designated contracts in support of combat operations. The 311th will also be responsible for the deployment and redeployment of rotating forces, conducting retrograde operations, and sustaining operating forces in the area.