Photo By 1st Sgt. John Etheridge | Brig. Gen. Darwin Craig, the director of the Joint Staff for the Utah National Guard...... read more read more
CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah – The Camp Williams Officer Club was filled to capacity as 15 Utah Army National Guard Soldiers said a final goodbye to family and friends during a farewell ceremony for the 115th Engineer Facility Detachment, 204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, September 9, 2018 as they depart for an overseas deployment.
The short ceremony consisted of the singing of The National Anthem, an invocation and a reading of the unit history.
The ceremony also included guest speakers Brig. Gen. Darwin Craig, the director of the Joint Staff for the Utah National Guard and Lt. Col Budd Vogrinec, the deputy commander of the 204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. Both officers spoke about the importance that the Soldier’s families play for a successful deployment and thanked them for their patriotism and support.
The sentiment was echoed by Cpt. Tristan Young, the commander of the 115th EFD.
“For the Soldiers, although a deployment is never fun, we are going on a big adventure. We are going to go off and do the job we were trained to do while our spouses are going to stay home and do their job, plus our job, and everything else that will fall on them. You definitely have it harder than we do. We appreciate that and can’t express it enough,” said Young.
Young also stated that over the last year the 115th EFD has focused on the families to ensure that the spouses know each other and have a network to be able to rely on in the absence of their Soldier.
The 115th EFD is comprised of primarily civil engineers and construction project managers and will be supporting the Department of Public Works at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait over the next ten months. They will be tasked with maintaining U.S. facilities and construction projects throughout Kuwait.
“We are very heavy in this unit with civil engineers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Simper, the detachment non-commissioned officer in charge. “We are going to be doing a little bit of design, but mostly we will be doing contracting and working with the other governments agencies that are in Kuwait.”
For Simper, a police officer from Naples, Utah, this is his third deployment. He said that his family knows what to expect and they are coping with it very well. He added that being in Kuwait, family communication will be easier than on other deployments.
“This time they know that there will be plenty of means to contact us. Communication won’t be a problem,” said Simper.
Not everyone in the 115th EFD has been on a deployment though. This is the first time for Cpt. John Fraidenburgh, a design engineer for the 115th EFD and father of three. He said that although he had talked many times with his children about the deployment, this final goodbye was still rough on them. Even so, he is still looking positive towards the deployment.
“I am deploying with a great group of guys and my wife is very happy that we are deploying to a safe and secure location,” Fraidenburgh said.
The 115th EFD commander summed up the sentiment of the unit as they departed for the airport.
“I am proud to be a part of such a great unit. We have some of the greatest minds in the Utah National Guard in this unit. I really do have the dream team,” said Young.
| Date Taken: | 09.09.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 09.14.2018 12:51 |
| Story ID: | 292819 |
| Location: | CAMP WILLIAMS, UTAH, US |
| Hometown: | CAMP WILLIAMS, UTAH, US |
| Web Views: | 261 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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