FORT SILL, Okla., June 10, 2016 -- A unit that played a pivotal role in operations Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve cased its guidon during a deactivation ceremony June 1. Known as the "Delta Diablos," D Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery, was responsible for instructing Soldiers on the Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM) weapon system in advanced individual training (AIT).
"B Battery, 2-6th ADA, will assume the role effective June 2," said Capt. Cassandra Steiner, former D Battery commander. "Currently the military occupational specialty (MOS) is known as 14S, but will become 14P starting October 1."
The new 14P MOS is Multiple Launch Rocket System Operational Fire Direction Specialist. The 14S MOS is Air and Missile Defense Crewmember for the Avenger and Man Portable Air Defense System weapons systems.
The operational force, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC), will take responsibility of certifying C-RAM units for deployment, said Steiner.
"After a unit has gone through gunnery, table certifications and the unit has deemed them fit to deploy, the unit will go through a mission-rehearsal exercise under the supervision of the 32nd AAMDC," she said.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., currently fields C-RAM Soldiers but its 5th Battalion, 5th ADA unit is scheduled to transfer here sometime in 2017. At present, they and C Battery, 2nd Battalion, 44th ADA of Fort Campbell, Ky. come to Fort Sill for gunnery training which takes 10 to 20 days depending on the size of the unit, noted Steiner.
Steiner was the battery commander for the past 11 months and will remain here to attend an upcoming ADA Captains' Career Course. In the meantime, she will be an instructor for the ADA Basic Officer Leader Course and for the ADA Captains Career Course once she has finished the course herself. She will also teach short-range air defense systems while learning about long-range air defense systems.
"I'll miss this unit. I'll miss our mission but I'm hopeful about the future," she said. "I'm hopeful for my NCOs who are going out into the operational force to shape new Soldiers, and they're going to do great things. And, I'm excited to learn about something different."
In 2007, D Battery, 2-6 ADA was activated as the C-RAM Center of Excellence. Its main focus then was training units to deploy to Iraq. Later C-RAM was used to protect major air bases in Afghanistan from enemy indirect fire, said Lt. Col. Charles Matallana, 2-6th ADA commander.
In 2015, D Battery executed the first Fires Center of Excellence multinational combined fires exercise. This marked the first joint C-RAM and field artillery exercise ever by the Army.
"In establishing this instructional unit, we pulled resources from the currently active Navy AIT course," said Steiner.
She added since its inclusion, D Battery Soldiers certified more than 5,500 service members on the C-RAM mission that provided defensive capabilities overseas.
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