KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – The 822nd Movement Control Team officially ended its mission in Afghanistan during a transfer of authority ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 20.
The 822nd MCT, a U.S. Army Reserve unit from Boston, Mass., transferred its mission of performing movement control functions for the movement of units, cargo and personnel in and throughout an assigned area of operations to the 576th MCT, an Army Reserve unit from Panama City, Fla.
While in Afghanistan, the 822nd MCT contributed to the biggest air lift operation since the Cold War, moving more than 17.2 million pounds of equipment in a five-month period.
During his speech, Maj. Kevin Ward, the executive officer for the 49th Joint Movement Control Battalion, thanked the soldiers of the 822nd MCT for their hard work and dedication to the mission.
“Capt. Buda, you and your soldiers have done an outstanding job here the past 12 months,” Ward said to the 822nd MCT’s commander. “You and your soldiers have never given up, and only pushed forward to improve the mission you were given.”
Having deployed to Kandahar Airfield in December 2011, the 822nd MCT hit the ground running and was responsible for the movement of more than 250,000 passengers and 200,000,000 pounds of cargo. During its time in Afghanistan, the 822nd MCT was responsible for the redeployment planning for more than 200 individual units in regional commands south, southwest and west.
Capt. Donald Buda, the commander of the 822nd MCT, said he was amazed at his soldiers accomplishments and that they should be proud of everything they’ve done.
“When I’ve asked you guys to do the impossible, you did,” Buda said to his soldiers. “I cannot tell you how proud I am of you.”
Although they’re new to the Afghanistan theater of operations, the 576th MCT is no stranger to deployments, having last deployed to Iraq in 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Capt. Ronald Myers, the 576th MCT commander, said that he looks forward to his upcoming deployment and that his soldiers are ready to take on the redeployment mission.
“I’m really proud of my unit because we worked really hard to get to this point,” said Myers. “We all know what we have been through to get here, so we are looking forward to working hard and make America proud of us.”
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 10.24.2012 06:47 |
| Story ID: | 96662 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 352 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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