Spc. Jamaal Simmons with the 69th Transportation Company kisses his 6-year-old daughter, Daijhsha, goodbye on Monday. Simmons and about 80 others from his unit deployed Monday for a yearlong Afghanistan tour. (Steve Mraz / S&S)
Spc. Jamaal Simmons with the 69th Transportation Company kisses his 6-year-old daughter, Daijhsha, goodbye on Monday. Simmons and about 80 others from his unit deployed Monday for a yearlong Afghanistan tour. (Steve Mraz / S&S)
Sgt. Jason Bernardy poses to let his 2-year-old son Zachary snap a picture. (Steve Mraz / S&S)
Danny McNamee embraces his wife, Pfc. Carmen McNamee. (Steve Mraz / S&S)
MANNHEIM, Germany — Troops with the 69th Transportation Company thought they were leaving for their yearlong Afghanistan deployment on Wednesday.
Accordingly, the 80 soldiers planned to spend Monday and Tuesday lounging with their loved ones and taking care of last-minute details.
So when word came down around 1 a.m. Sunday that the unit would be deploying Monday afternoon, everyone started working double time.
Young troops rushed to get haircuts. Others hurried to complete power-of-attorney documents. Family members scrambled to make farewell posters that they had originally planned to craft together Monday evening, said Kim-Berly Kinnischtzke, family readiness group leader for the company.
“The initial shock affected some of the families,” she said. “It really pushed us as far as the schedule.”
For Spc. Charles Danner, the Sunday baptism of his 8-day-old daughter still took place in Schoenau, Germany, but under added pressure.
“It was rush, rush,” Danner said. “You work with what you got, I guess.”
First Sgt. Bryan Elder said he did not know why the unit’s deployment date was moved forward. The unit, which falls under the 21st Theater Support Command, will be assigned to transport infantry within Afghanistan during its tour.
By July, the 21st TSC will have deployed about 1,100 troops to Afghanistan for its joint logistics command mission.
Aptly nicknamed the “Roadrunners,” the 69th could be faced with overcoming roadside bombs and vehicle ambushes in Afghanistan. Three months of on-and-off training in Grafenwöhr prepared the troops for their mission, Elder said.
“I feel confident in my unit,” he said. “My main thing will be to tell the soldiers to take it one day at a time, one mission at a time.”
Pfc. Daryl Raymond already has one mission in his mind he is confident he will accomplish. “I’m going to catch [Osama] bin Laden,” the 21-year-old soldier said.
Raymond wants to get back to Germany in time to see the birth of his first child, due in October.
“I figure once I catch bin Laden, they’ll let us come home faster,” he said.
