The ETA changed throughout the day, but the plane with 107 Soldiers of the 62nd Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Company arrived the evening of Dec. 16 in plenty of time for the holidays.
Cougar Company Soldiers made their way into Wilson Sports and Fitness Center, then into the arms of their loved ones by 10 p.m., marking the end of a yearlong deployment in Kuwait.
Traditional and nontraditional missions filled the calendar of the chemical company based at Camp Arifjan during a tour that essentially followed the 2010 calendar year.
The company under 23rd CBRN Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, found itself in high demand as the only company-sized CBRN element in theater. It set up for decontamination and reconnaissance missions, but worked extensively with fire departments, explosive ordnance units and security forces in a variety of response training scenarios.
"They were pretty much on-call in case something happened," said 1st Lt. Amber Janusheske, former company executive officer. "They're part of (U.S. Army Central), so they're able to respond to any CBRN incident within 22 countries in the ARCENT area of operations."
The 62nd CBRN Co. left a legacy in the desert, according to the company award citation: it developed 10 detailed equipment decon sites at five U.S. camps in Kuwait; Cougar Soldiers wrote procedures for traveling clean and dirty routes for sites to be used in future CBRN incident response and during consequence management operations; the company procured more than $300,000 in decon solutions that brought ARCENT decontamination capabilities from nonexistent to fully mission capable, expanding ability to respond across ARCENT theater of operations.
The Cougars did their part to secure the area and vehicles, ensuring safe movement of more than 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles during approximately 200 missions into Afghanistan from Kuwait. The company conducted 17 Random Anti-Terrorism Measure exercises and patrols adjacent to Camp Arifjan, greatly contributing to the security of the camp.
Two months into the deployment, the 62nd CBRN Co. was tasked with the demanding Quick Reaction Force mission.
The company extensively trained and conducted operations with counterparts in the Kuwaiti Army and National Guard. Throughout the deployment more than 150 Kuwaiti Army and National Guard Soldiers were trained on decontamination operations and sensitive site exploitation. The company developed, trained and prepared Kuwaiti Army soldiers to function as part of the U.S. Central Command chemical section.
"The great thing is they did everything well," said Maj. Cameron Oneil, 23rd CBRN Bn. operations officer. "They were recognized for doing their mission very, very well. They're a phenomenal group of Soldiers, parents, sons and daughters that are coming home."
The company was nominated for a Meritorious Unit Commendation even before it left Kuwait, due to its reputation for technical and tactical professionalism and the accolades already received from allied and Kuwaiti partners.
The 23rd CBRN Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Sean G. Kirschner greeted the Cougars, calling them "the best of who this great country has to offer, who have distinguished themselves over and over and over again during the past year in so many ways,"
"This is a hard mission," Janusheske said. "You go there, and it's what you make of it. They did a really great job."
The 62nd CBRN Co. came from Korea with the 23rd CBRN Bn. five years ago and is slated to permanently restation back to the Korean peninsula next year.
Don Kramer: don.kramer1@us.army.mil
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