Mortuary affairs Soldiers depart for Southwest Asia

By T. Anthony BellApril 10, 2014

A good-bye gift
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Pvt. Viviana Negron receives a dandelion from her son aboard a bus April 3 following a deployment ceremony at the Clark Fitness Center. The boy presented the flower to his mother just before the bus-full of Soldiers pulled off for the first leg of a ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Good-byes
2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sgt. 1st Class Terry Chamberlain shakes hands with military liaison Ron White and other well-wishers April 3 before boarding a bus April 3 at the Clark Fitness Center. Chamberlain and two dozen of her Soldiers had just participated in a deployment ce... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Teaful embrace
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sgt. Ana Jones hugs daughter Imani just before boarding a bus April 3 at Clark Fitness Center. It was the first leg of a trip to Southwest Asia where Jones and her fellow Soldiers of Detachment 1 of the 111th Quartermaster Company will support troops... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT LEE, Va. (April 10, 2014) -- Her daughter's pending deployment was so weighty the night before that Maria Riveria required pharmaceutical assistance to help her rest.

"Pills," said Riveria through an interpreter. "That's the only way I could sleep."

Riveria traveled from Naranjito, Puerto Rico, to see off Pvt. Viviana Negron during a deployment ceremony April 3 at the Clark Fitness Center. She was one of several members of Detachment 1, 111th Quartermaster Company who boarded buses at the facility to begin the first leg of a trip that eventually took them to Southwest Asia to support Operation Enduring Freedom.

An element of the Special Troops Battalion, 82nd Sustainment Brigade headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C., "The Reapers" will provide mortuary affairs support for coalition forces operating in Kuwait and Afghanistan. The Soldiers are scheduled to pull a six-month tour of duty.

Roughly 300 people packed the bleachers at Clark to witness the ceremony. They included Ron White, the military liaison for Congressman J. Randy Forbes, and members of the CASCOM and 82nd STB leadership including its commander, Lt. Col. Ki-yong Pak. Presiding over the ceremony, Pak said during his remarks cohesion will be the foundation for the unit's success.

"… For some of you standing in the formation, it will be your first deployment," he said. "You arrived at the unit as individuals, and depart today as a part of a varsity team. Congratulations. The team is made up of seasoned leaders and determined, proud Soldiers to carry out the mission…"

The mission of mortuary affairs Soldiers is a special one. They are entrusted to retrieve, identify, transport and prepare the remains of American and coalition soldiers for burial with "reverence, dignity and respect."

Like many of the family members present during the ceremony, Riveria said the experience was bittersweet. On one hand, she's proud of her daughter's accomplishments. On the other, she is bracing herself for the emptiness of her daughter's absence. Those feelings were amplified during the ceremony.

"I feel honored for what she is doing," she said, "but at the same time, it is sad because she has to leave her kids behind."

Riveria will care for Negron's 4-and-12-year-old boys in the local area. She conveyed she is "scared and anxious" due to unfamiliar surroundings and her inability to speak English. She did indicate a measure of optimism about her pending responsibility, however: "It won't be hard because I'm prepared to do it," she said.

Like Negron, many of the deploying Soldiers were first-timers. Their commanding officer, 1st Lt. Edward Hurley, said the groups' motivation will make up for a lack of experience.

"They are really enthusiastic about executing the mission," he said.

Hurley will lean heavily on his senior enlisted Soldier to fill in the gaps of inexperience. Sgt. 1st Class Terry Chamberlain was about to embark on her fifth trip to the theater of operations and conveyed a sense of confidence that things would go well.

"It's exciting and it's bitter and sweet for the troops," she said, smiling and displaying a leader's demeanor as Soldiers gathered outside to say goodbye to loved ones. "Like I tell them, it gets a little harder every time I leave, but we're going to lean on each other as a family and do what we got to do to get back here."

Det. 1 will replace another group of Fort Lee Soldiers currently in the theater.

The 111th QM Co. and its sister unit, Fort Lee's 54th QM Co., are the only two mortuary affairs units in the active Army. They have been on a rotational duty deployments for nearly a decade.