Finance Soldiers enable readiness for 2nd Cavalry Regiment

By 2nd Lt. Gregory Hacker, 106th Financial Management Support Unit, 16th Sustainment BrigadeFebruary 4, 2016

Finance Soldiers enable readiness for 2nd Cavalry Regiment
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GRAFENWOEHR, Germany (Feb. 4, 2016) -- Finance Soldiers, of Alpha Detachment, 106th Financial Management Support Unit, 16th Special Troops Battalion, demonstrated their ability to deploy financial management support teams and provide first-rate support to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment during an exercise held at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany, Jan. 28.

Soldiers began the exercise with an emergency deployment readiness exercise. After conducting a telephonic alert, the detachment reported to the unit headquarters, where they received their mission. The Soldiers expeditiously conducted pre-combat inspections, assembled technical equipment and prepared tactical vehicles for movement to the mission location.

The mission was designed to test the ability of company-level leaders to respond quickly to short-notice missions while demonstrating the detachment's capabilities to sustain the force.

The detachment's mission was to deploy financial management support teams to 2nd Cavalry Regiment headquarters on Rose Barracks to enable financial readiness for unit Soldiers deploying in support of Freedom Shock, the U.S. Army Europe, or USAREUR, commanding general's program to train, validate and sustain USAREUR readiness.

"The 2nd Cavalry Regiment is regularly deploying Soldiers across U.S. Army Europe's footprint in order to build a dynamic presence," said 2nd Lt. Justin Ganzer, the Alpha Detachment executive officer. "It is important for us to ensure they are financially ready when they deploy, so they can focus on their mission."

Alpha Detachment Soldiers provided military pay, disbursing and Soldier readiness processing support to 2nd Cavalry Regiment Soldiers.

Troopers said they appreciated the finance Soldiers' efforts.

"Everybody was very helpful and more than willing to spend their time working to figure out my pay issues," said Pfc. Wyatt Morris, a cannon crew member with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

"The service was great," said Spc. Thomas Langevin, a fire support specialist with the regiment. "All of the finance personnel provided detailed information. I recommend other units take advantage of their capability."

In addition to providing financial management support, Alpha Detachment Soldiers also conducted concurrent training. Soldiers received training on military pay, disbursing operations and various professional and leadership development topics.

Pvt. Luis Jimenez, a new finance Soldier with Alpha Detachment, received hands-on training during this support mission. "This training was a great learning experience," he said. "The NCOs [noncommissioned officers] and my co-workers helped me understand how finance operations work and answered my many questions."

This opportunity provided a gauge for the finance detachment to evaluate its own mission readiness even as its Soldiers contributed directly to the readiness of the regiment and the success of its efforts in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

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