Michigan Guard Engineers Wrap Up Afghan Deployment

Photo By Master Sgt. Warren Wright | U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel DeRoche, from Gwinn, Mich. and a team leader with 3rd Platoon, 1431st Engineers, carries a vehicle drive shaft torn from his vehicle after striking a roadside bomb. DeRoche, and the other Engineers from the 1431st, spent 10 months in Afghanistan searching for and destroying dangerous roadside bombs.  

KHOST, AFGHANISTAN

11.25.2009

Story by Sgt. Warren Wright 

Combined Joint Task Force - 82 PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan — For 10 months, engineers from the 1431st EC have performed more than 200 missions in Khost and Paktika provinces. Their primary mission is traveling some of the most dangerous roads in Afghanistan searching for IED's; the number one threat to Coalition and Afghan forces.

"A lot of units depend on us," said U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel DeRoche, from Gwinn, Mich. and a team leader with 3rd Platoon, 1431st Engineers. "We're getting out there and making sure the routes are clear and making sure it's safe for the other guys."

Their mission in Afghanistan is a very dangerous one, and all the Soldiers of the 1431st know the threat, said U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Robert Jeannotte, the 1st Sgt. for the 1431st Engineers and a native of Hubbell, Mich. "Right now we're looking at about 40 purple hearts in the unit and it takes some inner courage for them to keep getting in there and getting back out time after time."

The 1431st consists of Michigan Army National Guard units out of Calumet, Mich. and Baraga, Mich., along with about 20 other Soldiers from the 1433rd Engineer Company (Sapper) out of Augusta, Mich.

Since 9/11, the Army National Guard has made the same sacrifices the Active-Duty Army has made when it comes to deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

"In the last five to eight years, being National Guard is not a part time thing anymore," DeRoche said. "It's a bigger part of our lives; it's not just one weekend a month anymore."

"This is my third deployment, and there are a lot of soldiers in the same boat. We have Soldiers on their first deployment ... junior Soldiers that are fairly new to the National Guard," Jeannotte said. "Anyone who's been in the National Guard more than five years has at least one deployment if not two."

"It's making it difficult, but the Soldiers keep sticking around," Jeannotte said. "They seem to give selflessly to do the right thing for their country."

"A lot of us had to leave school, and we had to leave our jobs," said U.S. Army Spc. Alexander Harris of Travis City, Mich. and a Vehicle Operator with the 1431st. "There were quite a few of us that had to take pretty big pay cuts coming in, so our families had to adjust."

Deploying with the National Guard does have its advantages. Most people in the National Guard serve with other Soldiers who they have known their entire lives.

"It's pretty crazy because we all pretty much came from the same area, so our morale towards each other is a lot better than it is on an active duty unit," said U.S. Army Spc. Dominic Fredianelli a combat engineer with the 1431st and a native of Hancock, Mich. "We work a lot easier together knowing everyone and knowing each other's families."

The Engineers ended their deployment on a high note. Towards the end of the day during their last mission, after a full day of escorting other units along dangerous roads, the team was able to find one last IED and destroy it before it could be used by militant forces to harm any other forces or civilians travelling that route.

The unit was replaced by the 1141st Engineer Company of the Missouri Army National Guard. Engineers from the 1431st will being arrive home near the end of November.

• Date Taken: 11.25.2009
• Date Posted: 11.25.2009 20:40
• Story ID: 42027
• Location: KHOST, AF