JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas (Aug. 17, 2017) -- Soldiers from the 901st Contracting Battalion were officially welcomed home after uncasing their colors during a ceremony Aug. 16 at Fort Hood, Texas.
The ceremony is an Army tradition that symbolizes the return of a unit to its home installation and signifies the end of the battalion's 10-month deployment in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
The 901st assumed mission command of Regional Contracting Center-Afghanistan in October 2016. Led by Lt. Col. Nathaniel Bryant, commander of the 901st CBN, and Master Sgt. Lasean Fox, the 901st CBN acting battalion sergeant major, the unit delivered operational contract support and dynamic oversight solutions in support to the Resolute Support mission and Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
"Colonel Bryant, Sergeant Fox and members of the 901st Contracting Battalion, thank you so much for your outstanding and responsive contracting efforts for American and coalition forces," Col. William Boruff, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command commander and presiding officer for the ceremony, said. "You played a major factor in the fight against extremism which protects the freedoms our nation cherishes."
As part of the RCC-Afghanistan team, 901st CBN Soldiers operationalized, optimized and synchronized contracting support for the 1st Cavalry Division, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan, the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, and NATO organizations. The unit provided supplies, construction equipment, life support services and private security contracts.
"We focused on our mission, used agile and innovative ways to overcome those challenges, and delivered exceptional operationalized contracting support and dynamic oversight solutions to the warfighter at the point of need, ensuring the success of the NATO Resolute Support Mission and Operation Freedom's Sentinel," Bryant said. "The team we assembled for this mission was small when compared to the thousands of Soldiers, civilians, and contractors in theater, but the capability we demonstrated to the warfighter on the battlefield showed how Army contracting can be a tremendous force multiplier."
They managed a portfolio of more than 125 theater and external support contracts valued in excess of $18 billion in support of 30,000 U.S. and coalition forces operating across 20 bases, and all Afghan National Defense and Security Forces at more than 160 sites in Afghanistan.
"The deployment's success; however, was due to not just the efforts of our deployed forces, but also to those who remained here," Boruff said. "We owe a great deal of gratitude to our families who kept things in order and kept the home fires burning that allowed us to focus on our mission. So to the families of our deployed Soldiers, thank you very much for your sacrifice, your strength, and the love you've shown supporting your deployed Soldier."
The 925th CBN from Fort Stewart, Georgia, replaced the 901st CBN in August.
The MICC is made up of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting good and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, MICC contracts are vital in feeding Soldiers every day, providing many of the daily base operations support services at installations, preparing conventional force members, training almost a half million students each year, and maintaining government lands and structures across the United States and Puerto Rico.
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