SCHWEINFURT, Germany -- In a ceremony held on Ledward Barracks’ Andrus Garden Aug. 5, the 7th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade headquarters and the 72nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion uncased unit colors to officially begin their residence at United States Army Garrison Schweinfurt.
The ceremony was concise, with a short invocation before the brigade and battalion commanders, Col. John Arnold and Lt. Col. Neil Khatod, respectively, removed their unit’s colors from ACU-patterned sleeves and unrolled them for display before the gathered crowd of Soldiers, family and Schweinfurt community members.
In remarks after the uncasing, Arnold spoke fondly of his new place of duty.
“Today, our home is near the banks of the Main in beautiful and historic Schweinfurt,” he said. “I can think of no better place for the 7th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade.”
The two units arrive here from Mannheim, where the brigade was formed in 1970. The 7th TTSB is the 72nd ESB’s parent unit and also controls the 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, which has been stationed in Schweinfurt since 2009.
Once spread across Germany from the banks of the Rhine near the French border to northeastern Bavaria near the Czech Republic, this new concentration of forces leaves Grafenwoehr’s 69th Signal Battalion as the lone brigade unit to sit outside of Schweinfurt. Col. Arnold spoke highly of this shift.
“Schweinfurt brings the brigade closer together physically which will correspond to a tighter relationship all around” said Arnold. “That closeness we will likewise find in the fests and daily interactions with all of our neighbors.”
Arnold’s one shred of remorse comes from the task of finding a new nickname for the brigade. They’re known unofficially as the “Orange and White Knights of the Rhine,” as they’ve always been stationed somewhere along the banks of the mighty river in western Germany. The blue in the unit crest was even chosen to symbolize the flow of the Rhine.
But with U.S. Army units in Europe in a constant state of flux and restationing, home never seems to stay home for long. Schweinfurt is the brigade headquarters’ fourth home since its creation 40 years ago, and Arnold did not overlook the transient nature of being a U.S. Army unit in Europe.
“We all know that no posting is permanent, but we plan on staying here a while,” he said. “Thank you for spending a short time with the best our nation has to offer.”
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