KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- After a nine-month deployment to Qatar and Kuwait, the troops of 21st Theater Sustainment Command's, 266th Financial Management Support Center are finally home.
Twelve troops were greeted by family and friends at the Ramstein Passenger Terminal on Ramstein Air Force Base where their welcome home ceremony took place, June 15. The unit deployed 15 Soldiers to Qatar and Kuwait, September 2016 in support of Operation Spartan Shield. Three Soldiers had already returned home earlier in the deployment.
Brig. Gen. Steven Ainsworth, Deputy Commanding General, was the honorary guest speaker, 266th FMSC Director Col. Scott White shared the unit's accomplishments and Capt. Pawel Zemczak, 21st TSC chaplain delivered the invocation during the ceremony.
"With confidence, flexibility, adaptability and competency in your financial management jobs, you 12 ensured that your battle buddies serving in Qatar and Kuwait were able to financially take care of themselves and their families," Ainsworth said. "This is what it truly means to be 'First in Support'".
Deployed Soldiers from the 266th FMSC were tasked with providing cash management capabilities, ensuring all financial management policies and procedures were being executed, and they were also responsible for synchronizing all financial management information and providing technical oversight for financial functions.
"The Soldiers that we deployed with, exceeded my expectations" White said. "We had 15, where the mission would normally require 30. So to be able to accomplish the theater's mission over a nine-month deployment with half a crew, was truly an amazing accomplishment."
The success highlighted during the ceremony included complete accountability of more than $83 million, the execution of server migrations, and the first-ever in-theater Defense Finance and Accounting Service Theater Orientation Conference.
Capt. Marc Skill, forward plans officer, was in charge of spearheading the three-day DFAS Theater Orientation Conference while downrange.
"It was a way for the incoming financial management support units to fully understand what was going on in theater and they are given the opportunity to learn about strategic theater-level financial management issues," Skill said.
In the past, the conference took place in Indianapolis, Indiana where down-range service members would leave theater to conduct training.
The celebration concluded with the returning Soldiers finally being able to embrace their families.
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