JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- (Aug. 31, 2017) Five Soldiers from the Mission and Installation Contracting Command are on their way to support Hurricane Harvey disaster relief operations in southeast Texas.
Staff Sgts. Louis Olvera and Charles Prihoda, contingency contracting officers assigned to the 901st Contracting Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas, left for Prairie View, Texas, Aug. 30 to assist Task Force-51, the U.S. Army North's contingency command post as well as the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, a logistical unit from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, already in Texas assessing where the Army can assist with disaster relief.
While there Olvera and Prihoda will provide contracting support for the needs of Task Force-51 personnel from ARNORTH and assist in the development of contracting solutions for relief requirements.
A second team of 418th CSB contingency contracting officers comprised of Lt. Col. Wyeth Anderson, Master Sgt. Maria Sierra and Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Richardson left today for Katy, Texas. Their mission will be to coordinate contracting support for ARNORTH's Task Force-51 and other Army requiring activities, pass requirements to the 418th CSB reach-back cell in place at Fort Hood, and communicate options to mission commanders.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall early Aug. 26 as a Category 4 storm near Rockport, Texas, bringing winds of more than 130 mph and more than 50 inches of rain over the upper Texas coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. Later downgraded, the storm again made landfall Aug. 30 near the Louisiana border. Harvey has dumped record amounts of rain across the south Texas region since making landfall and has necessitated the response of active-duty military personnel and activation of the Texas National Guard to assist with the rescue and recovery of flood victims.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are suffering through the terrible devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey," said Col. William Boruff, the MICC commander. "We are prepared to put forth all of our resources to help the citizens affected by this historic storm get back on their feet."
ARNORTH, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, has deployed Task Force-51 to Kelly Field Annex, Texas, adjacent to nearby JBSA-Lackland and Katy to provide command and control over Title 10 assets, which will provide coordinated support to civil authorities. ARNORTH deploys Task Force-51 to conduct support for defense support of civil authorities, homeland defense, and theater security cooperation to promote the defense and security of the U.S.
The MICC is made up of two contracting support brigades and two field directorate offices responsible for 31 subordinate contracting activities across the United States and Puerto Rico. The command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods 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 JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, preparing more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
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