FORT HOOD, Texas - The 3rd Squadron, 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade uncased their colors here, Oct. 18, officially marking their return home following a six-month-long deployment to the Europe and the United States Central Command.
Since the spring of 2022, teams of security advisors from the 3rd SFAB have maintained a presence in more than 10 countries in Europe and the Middle East. Those teams worked closely with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other partner countries to provide training and assistance in a variety of areas, including maneuver, combat engineer, signal support, intelligence, medical, and logistics.
The 3rd SFAB’s recent rotation to Europe and the Middle East has been marked by a series of achievements, most notably the establishment of a multinational battle group in Slovakia. Lt. Col. Rich Groen, commander of the 3rd Sqdn., explained the SFAB advisors have played a key role in these exercises, providing vital support to partner nations, in addition to helping to stabilize volatile regions.
“The really great thing about the security force assistance brigade is that we have the ability to improve our relationships and partnerships within the region (that they are in),” Groen said Tuesday. “We have the ability to be overseas working with partner nations and their forces.”
Col. Zachary Miller, brigade commander of 3rd SFAB, thanked his Soldiers for their hard work and dedication.
The commander also expressed his gratitude to the families of the advisors for their support throughout the deployment.
He explained that the mission of the advisors in the Middle East is important because it helps to preserve security relationships that are critical to our national interest.
“We help with strategic competition” Miller said. “The central region provides key terrain for the U.S. to compete with China and Russia through a range of security cooperation ventures, and our activities in this space allow us to maintain the status as the partner of choice in the region.”
Groen explained that even though the 3rd Sqdn. is back from their deployment, their mission isn’t over.
“Many of those on this field will be headed right back in less than a year and they’re going to be picking up not where they left off, but much further along because their teammates took their place,” he said.
The 1st and 5th Bn. of 3rd SFAB cased their colors earlier this fall to replace the 3rd Sqdn. in the CENTOM area of responsibility.
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