Posted on 12/01/2007 3:48:40 PM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — America’s Army is full of tradition.
On Friday, one tradition signifying a unit is leaving and heading overseas played out on Brown Parade Field.
The 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion cased its colors, symbolically closing operations on this Southern Arizona post.
By the end of the year, the flag and its 22 battle streamers and three meritorious unit commendation streamers will be uncased in Iraq.
Col. John Baker said the majority of the battalion’s soldiers on the parade field will be deploying to Iraq, but two small groups will be part of communication network operations in Afghanistan and Kuwait.
Baker is commander of the 35th Signal Brigade at Fort Gordon, Ga., who has administrative control of the 40th since its brigade commander Col. John Hildebrand is in Iraq.
Baker said the battalion is ready for its deployment.
Before the battalion’s flag was cased, Lt. Col. Linda Jantzen, the unit’s commander, ordered the casing of the company guidons.
The guidons were presented, and each company commander and first sergeant placed the camouflaged canvas over them.
Like the 40th’s flag, they will be uncased once the companies arrive at their overseas destination.
Jantzen and Command Sgt. Maj. John Womble then marched to the front of the honor guard, and Spc. Jason Burton lowered the banner for it to be cased.
Safeguarding a unit’s flag or guidon is the responsibility of the organization’s senior enlisted soldier.
Womble, who is the 40th’s senior enlisted soldier, said being the keeper of the colors is a great responsibility.
“And there are no doubts the 40th soldiers “are the best,” he said. “They are trained, focused and ready to go. The soldiers are awesome.”
SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
ABOUT THE UNIT
What is now the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion traces it lineage back to July 31, 1942, when it was established as the 40th Signal Construction Battalion.
The unit’s battle honors include:
• 5 streamers from World War II
• 14 streamers from the Vietnam War
• 3 streamers from the Southwest Asia conflict
• 3 Army Meritorious Unit Commendations, two for Vietnam and one for Southwest Asia.
Source: Network Enterprise Technology Command historian
Lt. Col. Linda Jantzen and Command Sgt. Maj. John Womble roll the flag of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion on Friday at Brown Parade Field in a “casing of the colors,” a traditional ceremony carried out before deployment. The battalion is scheduled to deploy in early December. (Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review)
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