Fifth Signal Command leader Brig. Gen. Dennis Via watches 17th Signal Battalion commander Lt. Col. Glenn Kennedy and acting command sergeant major 1st Sgt. Enesi Mulitauaopele case the battalion’s colors during an inactivation ceremony Thursday in Kitzingen, Germany. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
KITZINGEN, Germany — After decades of helping soldiers communicate, the 17th Signal Battalion cased its colors during a ceremony at Larson Barracks.
The battalion’s inactivation comes after a deployment to Iraq which ended earlier this year. Serving since World War II, the battalion had been inactivated and reactivated twice before Thursday’s ceremony once again laid the unit to rest.
Calling Thursday’s ceremony “the ending of an era and the marking of a turning point,” 5th Signal Command leader Brig. Gen. Dennis Via said the future could hold anything for the 64-year-old battalion.
“Today, the colors once again will be cased,” Via said during the ceremony, held in the gym due to the possibility of inclement weather. “But we know there may be a day when the battalion will be called again.”
The battalion and its approximately 640 soldiers helped lead the way into Iraq and Kuwait in 2002 and 2003, and headed back down again in 2005 to support the 3rd and 42nd infantry divisions, as well as the 101st Airborne Division.
Soldiers provided communications support in an area of about 15,000 square miles, Via said, with no loss of life despite engagements with enemy forces.
“Deployments, inactivation and managing change,” Via said. “You dealt with these challenges as soldiers and families.”
The battalion is one of the last units left in Kitzingen. The area’s bases are scheduled to be closed down this year and be given back to the Germans in the near future.
Battalion personnel who stayed and helped process out other soldiers and their families, as well as move thousands of pieces of equipment, deserve special praise, said Lt. Col. Glenn Kennedy, the battalion’s commander.
Despite the end of another chapter in the 17th’s history, the battalion should not be mourned, Via said.
“This is a moment of nostalgia and reflection,” he said. “It is not a time for sadness.”
Kennedy said he was “eternally proud” of the soldiers in the 17th.
“As always, I’ll see you on the high ground,” he said. “We lead the way.”
