Infantry Battalion prepares for redeployment

Courtesy Photo | First Sgt. Robert Morrison, company 1st Sgt., Headquarters to Headquarters Company, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, a native of Whitwell, Tenn., performs a Customs Border Clearance Inspection on Headquarters to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldiers’ equipment July 10 at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq. The HHC, 3rd. Bn., 141st Inf. Regt. will be redeploying to Weslaco, Texas at the beginning of August. (Photo by: Capt. Orlando Guzman)  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IRAQ

07.10.2010

Courtesy Story

103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

Story by: Capt. Orlando Guzman

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – Soldiers from Headquarters to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), completed a Custom Border Clearance Inspection of their company equipment and military gear July 10 at the Lone Star Compound, Contingency Operating Base, Iraq.

The inspection sets the conditions for shipment of their connexes back home.

This inspection is one of the many steps that the HHC, 3rd. Bn., 141st Inf. Regt., must undergo in order to successfully redeploy back home. “Our unit performed exceptionally well,” said Capt. Valente Arjona, company commander, HHC, 3rd. Bn., 141st Inf. Regt., a native of Mission, Texas. Valente said that everything had gone really smooth and felt that the custom inspectors conducted their jobs in a very professional and timely manner.

The Custom Border Clearance team headed by 1st Sgt. Robert Morrison, company 1st Sgt., Headquarters to Headquarters Company, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, and a native of Whitwell, Tenn., said that besides looking for anything out of the ordinary, he reads the Soldier’s body language when he inspects their gear.

“Body language says a lot about the person when you are inspecting their gear,” Morrison said. The trend that Morrison said he had noticed from the four previous inspections he had conducted was finding knives, hatches and killing knives.

Another member of the Custom Border Clearance team, 1st Lt. Angela Miller, Alpha Company, 28th Combat Support Hospital, 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and a native of Fayetteville, N.C., said one of the biggest things that is looked for are agriculturally prohibited items such as dirt and soil.

“Plants, animals, and dirt can contain diseases and bacteria - things that we don’t want brought back into the states,” Miller said.

The one thing that Miller wants all units to understand and take away from this inspection is to ensure that all your items undergoing inspection are “clean, clean, and clean.”

As the Soldiers of HHC, 3rd. Bn., 141st Inf. Regt. get closer to their redeployment, they pass another hurdle, and are one step closer to going home and rejoining their families. Now that this inspection is over, the containers are shipped after being sealed, then transported to Kuwait, then to Ft. Hood, and then back to Weslaco, Texas, where the Soldiers will reunite with their equipment.

• Date Taken: 07.10.2010
• Date Posted: 07.19.2010 07:51
• Story ID: 53043
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ