FORT LEE, Va. - During a time of war, the ability to quickly and effectively deploy and redeploy units to support the fight, is vital to mission accomplishment. The Deployment Excellence Award provides an opportunity to recognize outstanding units and their efforts to keep the force sustained.
The DEA is managed by the U.S. Army Transportation Corps as part of the Chief of Staff of the Army's Combined Logistics Excellence awards program, which recognizes achievement in the areas of deployment, maintenance and supply operations. These awards highlight the crucial role logistics plays in supporting the warfighter.
This award has significance at the unit level and beyond.
"The DEA competition has been going on for 10 years and every year the units and installations impress us more and more," Kevin Rhodes, DEA validation team member and Operational Deployment observer said. "You would think with multiple deployments and turn-over of trained deployment personnel, the Army deployment process would be suffering. However, it's those multiple deployments and all the trained and dedicated personnel that keeps the process moving without missing a beat."
The purpose of the awards program is to recognize active, reserve and National Guard Army units and installations for their accomplishments in meeting or exceeding Army deployment standards.
Another goal of the program is to share innovative deployment initiatives between units and Soldiers worldwide. Each unit is evaluated on their ability to meet deployment standards and timelines.
The competition consists of two phases: Phase 1, the evaluation process and Phase 2, on-site teams to evaluate semi-finalists from Phase 1.
Phase 1 consists of the board evaluation. Submission packets are evaluated by a 10-member board representing major commands. After review, the DEA validation board selects the semi-finalists for each category. Each year the number of units to submit entries has increased.
"The DEA program is not just Transportation centric, it involves all branches. All units deploy, not just Transportation units." Henry Johnson, DEA Program Manager, said. "We have strived every year to get the word out to all types of units and participation has increased."
The second phase was comprised of on-site evaluations where units were graded in many categories to include deployment planning, support training, and equipment preparation. Evaluators traveled to units world-wide in order to determine the winners and runner-ups. The DEA board and validation team scores are combined to determine the winners.
DEA is cosponsored by the Deputy Chief of Staff, G3 and the Deputy Chief of Staff, G4 and administrated by the U.S. Army Transportation Corps.
The awards will be presented during the CLEA ceremony at the Greater Richmond Convention Center May 12. The ceremony is the culminating event after the Sustainment Commanders Conference and Association of the United States Army Sustainment Symposium, May 9 -12.
This year's winners are:
All Army Operational Deployment Small Unit Category
Small Unit Winner - Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Stryker Cavalry, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany
Small Unit Runner-up - Battery B, 1st Battalion, 182nd Field Artillery, Detroit, Mich.
Large Unit Winner - 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
Large Unit Runner-up - 1st Bn., 119th Field Artillery, Charlotte, Mich.
Active Army
Small Deploying Unit Category
Winner - Battery A, 5-7 Air Defense Artillery Bn., Kaiserslautern, Germany
Runner-up - 240th Quartermaster Supply Company, Bamberg, Germany
Large Deploying Unit Category
Winner - 2nd Bn. (Airborne), 503rd Infantry, Vicenza, Italy
Runner-up - 54th Engineer Bn., Bamberg, Germany
Supporting Unit Category
Winner - 14th Transportation Bn., Vicenza, Italy
Runner-up - 39th Transportation Bn., Kaiserslautern, Germany
Army Installation Continental United States Category
Winner - Fort Bragg, N.C.
Runner-up - Fort Hood, Texas
Army Installation Overseas Category
Winner - U.S. Army Garrison, Vicenza, Italy
Runner-up - U.S. Army Garrison, Baumholder, Germany
Army Reserve
Small Deploying Unit Category
Winner - Headquarters and Headquarters Co., U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Runner-up - 811th Ordnance Co., Rainelle, W.Va.
Large Deploying Unit Category
Winner - 377th Theater Sustainment Command, Belle Chasse, La.
Runner-up - 642nd Regional Support Group, Decatur, Ga.
Supporting Unit Category
Winner - 11th Aviation Command, Fort Knox, Ky.
Runner-up - 1397th Deployment and Distribution Support Bn., Vallejo, Calif.
National Guard
Small Deploying Unit Category
Winner - Co. B, 3rd Bn., 20th Special Forces Group, Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
Runner-up - HHC, 732nd Combat Sustainment and Support Bn., Tomah, Wis.
Large Deploying Unit Category
Winner - 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Pinellas Park, Fla.
Runner-up - 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Clinton, N.C.
Supporting Unit Category
Winner - Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Edinburgh, Ind.
Runner-up - Joint Force Headquarters-Ohio, Columbus, Ohio
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