Lt. Col. Alfred Pantano Jr., facing camera, commander of 94th Engineer Battalion, and Command Sgt. Maj. Scott Landy case the battalion’s colors during a farewell ceremony Friday at the Vilseck Army Airfield in Germany. The battalion will deploy to Iraq at the end of January. It will be the battalion’s second deployment to Iraq. (Rick Emert / S&S)
VILSECK, Germany — The Rose Barracks community on Friday bid an official farewell to the 94th Engineer Battalion, which deploys to Iraq at the end of January, just one year after returning home from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
About 600 soldiers from the battalion will deploy to support 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Irwin, Calif., according to Maj. Stephen Danner, executive officer for the battalion.
The engineers’ missions could include engineering and construction projects, as well as humanitarian and combat support, Danner said.
The battalion has had several large-scale training exercises to prepare for the deployment, including a mission rehearsal exercise and a computer-simulated staff exercise, Danner said.
The battalion’s soldiers, based in Vilseck, Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels, have also trained individually and in platoon- and company-level training events, he said.
“The first time we deployed to Iraq, we kind of went in blind,” Danner said. “Any soldier in the battalion will tell you that we’re better off now than when we deployed last time. The soldiers are prepared for this.”
The soldiers who were asked agreed that they were ready.
“I feel we are prepared for the deployment,” said Spc. Walter Tomaszkiewicz, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company. “We have a lot of strong soldiers.”
“We have a lot of good (noncommissioned officers) who really know what’s going on,” said Spc. Kevin Swindler, 535th Engineer Company. “They’ll take care of us over there.”
But getting ready for a one-year deployment to a combat zone means a whole lot more than training. The soldiers also had to consider how to prepare their families, both in Germany and back in the States.
“My family (in Pensacola, Fla.) has really been freaking out about the deployment; it’s kind of scary over there right now,” said Pvt. Cory Hoag, Company B. “I’ve tried to assure them that everything will be OK. They support me, but they are worried.”
Hoag’s wife, Sgt. Jennifer Hoag, 201st Forward Support Battalion, is currently in Iraq. She is scheduled to arrive home about a month after Hoag deploys. The total time apart will be two years by the time Hoag’s deployment ends.
“The separation is hard,” Hoag said. “That’s why I’m excited to get out of here. I don’t want to stay here going crazy without her. I love her and miss her, and I can’t wait to see her again.”
Tomaszkiewicz married his high school sweetheart, Kodie, less than a month ago. He had to scramble to get all the paperwork in order before the deployment.
“She’s taking it pretty hard,” he said. “But we’ve been together for years, and we got through the (first) deployment, so we’ll make it through this one.”
