Navy Cmdr. Mark Businger, left, helps Yeoman 2nd Class Elias Loy with some paperwork as part of a predeployment session held by the 80th Area Support Group in Chievres, Belgium. While their numbers aren't large, more U.S. troops in the Benelux are deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. (Kevin Dougherty / S&S)
Navy Cmdr. Mark Businger, left, helps Yeoman 2nd Class Elias Loy with some paperwork as part of a predeployment session held by the 80th Area Support Group in Chievres, Belgium. While their numbers aren't large, more U.S. troops in the Benelux are deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. (Kevin Dougherty / S&S)
Army Sgt. Lindsay Bjelde, left, received a shot from Spc. Erin Grant while updating her records. (Kevin Dougherty / S&S)
CHIÈVRES, Belgium — There was a time not too long ago when a soldier assigned to the Benelux was largely insulated from an extended deployment.
A tour of duty in this neck of the woods usually meant a lot of desk time. Duffel bags tended to get more dusty than dirty.
That’s no longer the case.
“It isn’t like it was in the old days of the Cold War, when they sat at their desks,” said Army Col. Dean A. Nowowiejski, the 80th Area Support Group commander.
“It’s not your granddaddy’s NATO anymore,” Nowowiejski added.
While they get scant attention, troops in the Benelux are going to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere at a rate roughly proportionate to troops from many of the larger bases, he said. And when they depart their duty station to deploy, troops usually travel alone or in small groups, without rousing speeches or falling confetti.
“I call them the invisible deployments,” Nowowiejski said.
Last year, in response to the increase in travel, the 80th ASG and the 254th Base Support Battalion beefed up its Army Community Service staff.
Based in Schinnen, Netherlands, the support battalion hired a full-time deployment and mobilization program coordinator, began to reach out more to geographically separated units and bought more gear, such as Web cams, to bridge the distance between troops and families.
And like many of the larger bases in Germany and Italy, Schinnen now has professional counselors to assist servicemembers and their families.
“These guys and gals [in the military] need advocates, and that’s what we are trying to do,” said Katrina Yunt, the deployment program coordinator.
Ultimately, the 80th ASG and 254th BSB exist to support U.S. forces assigned to NATO, Nowowiejski said.
While only several hundred U.S. servicemembers are assigned to the Benelux region, more than 100 are currently deployed. They range from cargo transportation specialists in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to veterinarians and firefighters in Chièvres. In addition, an element of NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, based in Rheindahlen, Germany, is expected to go downrange soon, if it hasn’t left already.
Since troops in the Benelux have no large housing area to speak of, most of them rent apartments on the local economy. That requires a degree of independence that can be liberating but also challenging for folks like Yunt because troops deploy alone or in small groups with little fanfare.
“We have to be in tune with the units,” said Lt. Col. Richard S. Richardson, the 254th BSB commander. “The benefit is we can provide service on a more personal level.”
But as much as officials try, they don’t always know who is coming and going. Nowowiejski, for example, said he didn’t learn Air Force firefighters had deployed to the Middle East until he heard it from someone at church. Though the personnel are not Army, Nowowiejski wants to be inclusive, given the nature of NATO.
To that end, the 80th ASG recently conducted a weeklong predeployment processing program specifically for U.S. troops assigned to NATO. The joint program went off without a hitch and drew members from each of the armed services.
“If I had to do this on my own,” Navy Cmdr. Mark P. Businger said, “it would probably take me the better part of two or three days.”
