Staff Sgt. Erik Puder is deployed with 184th Sustainment Command to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, as a battle noncommissioned officer for 1st Theater Sustainment Command’s Operational Command Post. He tracks daily operations for 1TSC and major movement of Soldiers and equipment and assists with the video teleconferencing system for meetings.
The 184th Sustainment Command, Mississippi Army National Guard, assumed responsibility of daily sustainment operations throughout the Middle East in December of 2018. The unit serves as the operational command post for the Ft. Knox-based 1st Theater Sustainment Command and manages the day-to-day sustainment operations theater wide. The area of responsibility includes 20 countries, including Iraq and Syria, with four ongoing U.S. military operations, covering 4.5 million square miles, 550 million people, and 22 ethnic groups speaking 18 different languages.
The 1st TSC supplies everything from food, water and medicine to vehicles and repair parts so warfighters can accomplish their mission. They manage the ports, flights, and customs points needed to keep people and equipment moving 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They also legal support as well as support in the areas of financial management, human resources, humanitarian aid distribution, host-nation engagements, and medical care for troops and civilians within the command.
The unit is expected to return later this year.