“A change in mission for the STB headquarters is fairly routine,” said Lt. Col. John Hickey, the commander of the 4th STB, and an Alexandria, Va., native. “We have gone through three major changes of mission since I took command. The staff has really developed the ability to re-orient and reorganize to make sure the right focus is in the right place to do our job.”
Hickey expressed the advantage of initially having the 4th STB take command of the Mayor Cell mission and then handing it off to the 20th Eng. Bde., as the base prepares to close out at the end of the year.
“What we ended up with is, the perfect combination of having a sustainment brigade take the Mayor Cell and work through all those logistic tasks. Get it organized, get it postured and hand it off to the Engineers,” he said. “They are well suited to deal with facilities planning and the more mathematical requirements of facilities engineering towards the end.”
After both command teams handed out coins to deserving Soldiers and Airmen who helped make the Mayor Cell mission and the TOA a success, Col. Richard Kaiser, commander of the 20th Eng. Bde., and a Milwaukee, Wis., native, addressed the harsh realities of what’s to come on COB Adder.
“The mission is different ladies and gentlemen. If you haven’t figured that out yet, you will in the next few weeks,” he said “We are about to enter into a different phase of being here and for all my friends at the 4th STB, who will run operations out of the south post, you’re going to be pretty busy.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Butler Kendrick, the command sergeant major for the 20th Eng. Bde., and a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, backed his commander by expanding on what lies ahead.
“We have an awesome mission ahead of us,” said Kendrick, “No one has ever done this before and it will be a leadership challenge. All Soldiers have to be engaged and we have to finish strong.”
Kendrick concluded his remarks by thanking the Soldiers of the 4th STB for greeting the 20th Eng. Bde. with open arms and helping them make a smooth transition from Joint Base Balad to COB Adder.
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