Company A, 82nd Engineer Battalion
is named Army's best active-duty unit
By Rick Emert, Bamberg
bureau
Rick Emert / Stars and Stripes
Sgt. Timothy Easton, from Company A, 82nd Engineer Battalion, operates an Armored Vehicle
Launch Bridge. Company A was named the best engineer unit in the Army this month. |
BAMBERG, Germany — Company A of the 82nd Engineer Battalion is the best
active-duty engineer unit in the Army. And they have the Lt. Gen. Emerson C. Itschner
Award to prove it.
The award, given annually to the best active-duty, Reserve and National Guard units in
the Army, was presented to the company earlier this month.
A unit must win at every level, such as battalion, brigade and major command, in order
to advance to the Army level. At the Army level, the engineer branch evaluates the
nomination packets and selects a winner.
The award typically goes to the unit in each component that performed the most unique
engineer missions during a given year. Company A claimed that honor during a rotation in
Kosovo that ended halfway through 2000, according to Capt. Christopher Tatka, the company
commander.
During its shift in Kosovo from November 1999 to June 2000, Company A not only
established checkpoints Apocalypse and Sapper on the border with Serbia, but it also
manned the checkpoints during its rotation — a mission normally performed by infantry
or artillery units, Tatka said.
"We were acting as an infantry unit on the border with Serbia," Tatka said.
"We helped close the border by using explosives to make road craters, so we also got
to use our basic engineer skills."
The soldiers also performed patrols on the border and in the town of Gnjilane, Tatka
said.
However, unique missions were only one aspect of judging for the award. Officials with
the engineer branch, based at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., looked at many different areas in
the nomination packets submitted by engineer units Armywide. The areas judged included:
morale and welfare, noncommissioned officer professional development programs, officer
professional development programs, safety, soldier discipline and maintenance.
Company A scored high marks by having the most soldiers re-enlist out of any unit in
Kosovo during its rotation, and the unit had no courts-martial or absences without leave
in 2000, according to 1st Sgt. Darren K. Ah Mook Sang.
The unit’s successes throughout the year and in winning the Itschner award are a
result of teamwork, good leadership and discipline, Tatka said.
"This is not the first sergeant’s award; this is not the commander’s
award; it’s a company award," he said.
Ah Mook Sang said the award validates what his soldiers already knew.
"Every soldier in the company knows we’re the best," Ah Mook Sang said.
"With this award, we’ve earned bragging rights. The soldiers will take these
memories with them everywhere they go. They may never again be part of a unit that wins
this award."
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