FORT MEADE, MD., -- Over the last five weeks, 4,100 Minnesota Army National Guard Soldiers flowed through First Army's demobilization process at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Miss. According to the unit's commander, there were no issues. That's not surprising as the unit also experienced a successful mobilization with First Army which set them up for success on their deployment.
Col. Eric Kerska, commander, 1-34th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Minn., National Guard, redeployed on the last flight from Kuwait into Camp Shelby in early May. When he arrived, more than two-thirds of his Soldiers had already departed for home. After experiencing the demobilization process himself, he said he feels like his Soldiers were taken care of the way he wanted them to be.
"I went through the demob process as a customer not necessarily as a brigade commander. It was very efficient. The people had a great customer service attitude. They treated us very well. I got zero negative comments from my white cell, the advance party that we sent back. Every comment has been positive," Kerska said emphatically.
Maj. Curtis Garrette, mobilization operations chief, 177th Armored Brigade, First Army Division East, credits this success to a great partnership and hard work between stakeholders -- the National Guard, Army's Medical Command, Camp Shelby, Installation Management command, the Red Bulls advance party and the demobilization operations brigade at Camp Shelby.
"Demob was conducted to standard not a set time; however the majority of the Red Bull Soldiers completed the process in five to seven days. The unit chain of command being present and engaged throughout the process, combined with our validation boards with the right stakeholders ensured individual Soldier care and standards were met," Garrette explained. "Soldiers received the care, transition support, and understanding of their benefits due to them before they departed the demobilization site."
"There were no issues for me to get involved with. Everything was running smooth from day one, and we couldn't be happier with the demob process here at camp Shelby," Kerska said.
According to Kerska, the successfully demobilization topped off an excellent mobilization and deployment which began with their mobilization at Fort McCoy, Wis., last fall.
"Mob training for us was excellent," Kerska said. "About 40 percent of the brigade has deployed previously -- I've deployed previously -- so we have other mob station experiences in the past. This one for me was unique in that my staff and I were able to design the training exactly as we wanted it. The (then) Division West Commander, Maj. Gen. (Charles) Anderson, allowed me the latitude to train the way we wanted to. We were very well prepared for our mission when we left."
During their deployment, Kerska and his troops were not only extremely busy, they were successful and part of a historic time in the Army's history. He credits his mobilization training and the experience of the unit with their success.
"We completed three million (convoy) escort miles in Iraq. We pulled the last of the equipment out (of Iraq), 27,000 trucks. We assisted 40,000 Soldiers leaving Iraq to get home by Christmas. We ran the camp command cells throughout Kuwait, where over 80,000 Soldiers flowed into and out of Kuwait, providing all life support for those folks," Kerska detailed.
The Red Bulls other missions consisted of force protection in Kuwait, quick reactionary force patrols and other force protection activities.
"It was a complex mission, and I feel like we did really well. The bottom line for me was the brigade went into Iraq. We got everyone home for Christmas as the president ordered. We had five vehicles destroyed by enemy fire, and everybody walked away; everybody's going home," he concluded.
Col. Dale Kuehl, commander, 177th Ar. Bde., and his staff began setting the conditions for success with the Red Bulls about six months prior to their return. While Kuehl and his staff ensured they had the right mix of support and health professionals, Kerska and his team focused on unemployment.
"I have 1,000 Soldiers who don't have a job when they get back. We're very effective at targeting the enemy with the IED threat and figuring out where and when these IEDs would be on the road. So we recalibrated and put together a working group on the new enemy, which was unemployment," explained Kerska.
"We gathered in Soldiers from throughout the brigade who had special skills in that area -- resumes, interviews -- and we put together our employment group and pushed it down to the company level. So the thousand soldiers going home without a job are all going home with resumes that have been checked by multiple people," Kerska continued.
The demobilization process allowed Kerska and his Soldiers a chance to slow down from an extremely fast-paced and stressful deployment. In addition to ensuring resolution or follow on care for medical and behavioral health issues, Kerska said the demobilization process gave him time to get his head out of the deployment and prepare to go home.
"Many of Soldiers complain that we're here too long, that we could be out of here in two or three days… But the extra time to learn to go at a slower pace, to maybe relearn the skills of taking it a little slower, relaxing, I think that's important before you go home. Everybody's anxious to get home quickly, but that's not necessarily the best thing for us or the families. I think this is a good opportunity. It gives us a little time to put the deployment schedule behind us," he concluded.
First Army Division East, headquartered at Fort Meade, Md., mobilizes trains, validates, deploys and demobilizes Reserve Component troops. The division demobilized almost 27,000 service members in support of overseas contingency operations, such as Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn, at three mobilization training centers across the eastern United States in 2011.
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