Photo By Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony L Taylor | Command Sgt. Maj. Maurice T. Chappell, 2209th Mobilization Support Battalion, gives...... read more read more
Story by: Ashley Alameda, DoMaD Public Affairs
FORT BLISS, Texas - Two mobilization support battalions mobilized to Fort Bliss to work with the Directorate of Mobilization and Deployment.
The 2209th MS Battalion, from Mountain View, Calif., and 2219th MS Battalion, from Fort Carson, Colo., arrived April 18 and replaced the 2207th MS Battalion, from El Paso, Texas, currently mobilized with DoMaD.
All three battalions are Army Reserve components and fall under the 85th Support Command.
Soldiers in the battalions are integrated into all areas of operations and are meant to augment the soldiers, civilians and contractors who run DoMaD.
The command team from the 2209th is now commanding the Soldier Resilience and Readiness Center. The command team of the 2216th is now in charge of the Mayor’s Cell at McGregor Range, N.M. The rest of the 32 officers and senior noncommissioned officers have been placed in administrative and logistic sections in support of the DoMaD mission, which is to provide life support and movement requirement assistance to mobilizing and demobilizing units and service members.
Maj. Michael Schwamberger mobilized with the 2216th MS Battalion from Colorado. He is the officer in charge of DoMaD’s tactical operations cell and S-3 tracking and protocol. He said he enjoyed his time with DoMaD and is proud of what he is doing.
“The mission overall, to me, is processing soldiers and taking care of troops and when soldiers come home. They have someone who is like-minded that they can talk to and it helps with reintegration instead of releasing them into the wild, so to speak,” he said.
Maj. Dexter W. Byrd, new deputy operations officer and strategic planner from the 2209th from California, looks forward to learning new things during the next year.
“I’ve done S-3 (operations officer), but as far as being a strategic planner, that is something new (that) I need to learn. I just want to try and do the best I can,” he said.
The soldiers of the 2207th MS Battalion, have been with DoMaD since June 1, 2012, and most are moving on from DoMaD. Maj. Chelinda Reed of DoMaD’s human resource section began medical school. Sgt. 1st Class Toliver Hill who worked in the supply section left to Kabul, Afghanistan, to be a transportation liaison at the embassy.
Alternatively, Maj. Timothy Biddle, DoMaD’s S-3, left the 2207th MS Battalion and transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve so he can submit a tour of duty packet to stay with DoMaD.
Master Sgt. Juan Martinez, S-3’s demobilization noncommissioned officer in charge, is going back to his civilian job, working in federal law enforcement, in the West Texas region. He said he enjoyed his experience working at DoMaD and has some guidance for the incoming battalions.
“Nothing can prepare you to work here,” he said. “It all has to be learned ‘hands on.’ You have to be fluent and adaptable to the daily changes of the Army. You have to be ready and willing to come into work. You no longer work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5.”
Martinez said he is going to miss what he did for the soldiers and units.
“The best feeling is when the units depart (for their home stations) and they are grateful for the smooth process they went through here,” he added.
The work he did will not be the only thing he misses when he leaves, but also the people he worked with.
“Even though there are so many different sections, we always come together as a team to get the mission done,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 06.20.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 06.20.2013 14:09 |
| Story ID: | 108960 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 885 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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