Pfc. Keith Floyd, Company B, 54th Engineer Battalion, kisses his daughter, Kandise, Friday at the Freedom Fitness Facility in Bamberg, Germany. Floyd and other members of the 54th returned after spending a year in Ramadi, Iraq. (Mark St.Clair / S&S)
Pfc. Keith Floyd, Company B, 54th Engineer Battalion, kisses his daughter, Kandise, Friday at the Freedom Fitness Facility in Bamberg, Germany. Floyd and other members of the 54th returned after spending a year in Ramadi, Iraq. (Mark St.Clair / S&S)
First Sgt. Jeffrey Mann, right, speaks to Sgt. Gregory Precht on Friday in Bamberg. Precht, who was injured in a roadside bomb attack, spent the last month at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before flying back to see his unit return. (Mark St.Clair / S&S)
Friends and family members of the soldiers in the Bamberg, Germany-based 54th Engineer Battalion cheer their returning heroes Friday at the Freedom Fitness Facility on Warner Barracks. The 54th just completed a yearlong deployment to Ramadi, Iraq. (Mark St.Clair / S&S)
BAMBERG, Germany — The 54th Engineer Battalion has come home.
While most units spend their time in Iraq staying as far as possible from roadside bombs, the 54th spent a year actively seeking them out.
And they found them. More than 1,000 of them, said Command Sgt. Maj. Terry L. Defenbaugh, the battalion’s sergeant major.
Rolling up and down the streets of Ramadi and the volatile Anbar province, performing most of their missions at night, the 54th “provided freedom of maneuver for I Marine Expeditionary Force” and other elements in Multi-National Force-West, Defenbaugh said.
“We were extremely successful. I don’t really know how to put it, except to say that it was a privilege to serve with this group of heroes,” he said, praising the soldiers and platoon leaders.
“All the credit goes to the soldiers of the battalion and task force who rolled every night knowing what was waiting for them. And they did it night after night after night.”
During the past week, more than 450 engineers returned to Warner Barracks in three waves, having spent almost a week in transit through Iraq and Kuwait.
The battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Shawn McGinley, with 9-year-old son Alex by his side, said that just before it left Iraq, the 54th was addressed by Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilner, the I Marine Expeditionary Force commander. Zilner praised the troops’ efforts and said they accomplished everything that was asked of them.
“I’m really excited. I’m just happy that nothing happened to him,” Alex said of the safe return of his father.
While waiting for her husband and the rest of the final group, Sarah Wingard had butterflies in her stomach.
There with her three children, she said she felt relief, knowing that her husband, Staff. Sgt. Kevin Wingard, wasn’t in danger anymore. The two have been married for 10 years, and this was the first time she had been through a deployment.
The battalion’s success was not without loss. Six Bamberg-based soldiers died in Iraq, and McGinley said an additional 44 from the task force will receive Purple Hearts. Also, two soldiers and one Marine in units attached to the 54th were killed.
This was the battalion’s second yearlong deployment to Iraq. It also deployed in 2003.
