ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam - For the past month the sounds of heavy equipment and the cries of "oo-rah!" from U.S. Marines has been a constant presence on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. These sounds ended April 29 when the engineers of Combat Logistics Battalion-3 from Marine Corps Base Hawaii completed their site improvement project for Task Force Talon, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, the U.S. Army's first forward deployed terminal high altitude area defense unit.
Task Force Talon first deployed to Guam in 2013 to protect the U.S. territory from ballistic missile threats. Since arriving in Guam, the task force has steadily made progress improving the area on Andersen Air Force Base's Northwest Field called Site Armadillo. In the past the task force relied on private contractors and Army and Air Force engineers to complete site improvement projects. The completion of the latest project is the first one completed by U.S. Marine Corps engineers for the task force.
"It was great to be able to be able to lead a squad of Marines to do this heavy equipment project and be part of such an important homeland defense mission," said Staff Sgt. Delsean Barrow, CLB-3 and the non-commissioned officer who led the Marine Corps mission to Guam.
Over the course of one month, the CLB-3 Marines removed 11.5 acres of debris that was piled up from when the site was originally cleared two years ago. They used the debris to build a berm that has improved the security of sensitive assets on Site Armadillo while providing additional building space for future projects.
"I see this as a win-win for both the Marines and the Army because we got to train on our core engineer tasks while completing an important site improvement project for the task force," said Sgt. Vincent Rhoads, CLB-3 Marine.
At the conclusion of the project the six Marines, who spent a month working on Site Armadillo, were recognized with Army Certificates of Achievement and Task Force Talon coins during an awards ceremony. The ceremony was attended by members of Task Force Talon, the commander of CLB-3, Lt. Col. Patrick Tucker and CLB-3 Sergeant Major, Sgt. Maj. James Vealey.
"We appreciate the hard work the Marines provided for the task force for the past month and look forward to cooperation with CLB-3 on future projects," said Lt. Col. Jefferey Slown, Task Force Talon commander, 94th AAMDC.
The completion of the site improvement project is part of a master building plan to improve the THAAD location in Guam which the Joint community to include now the US Marines have played a key role in moving forward.
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