Soldiers of 98th Maintenance Company mark deployment to Kuwait

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Wolf
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The 98th Maintenance Company hosted a deployment ceremony Monday at the Alaska National Guard Armory at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The company will deploy to Kuwait in February to assist in repairing equipment coming out of Iraq and going into the Army Supply System.

The deployment is set for nine months, when approximately 135 Soldiers will provide vehicle maintenance, welding and fabrication and repair parts sent to them.
Army Capt. Tim Galloway, 98th Maint. Co. commander, faced a time constraint challenge in order to meet the Army mission.

"A normal unit usually gets anywhere between a year and 180 days to prepare for a deployment," Galloway said. "I got a notice in mid-December that I had 90 days to get the company ready and, when you look at it with all the holidays and weekends, I had roughly 47 to 49 days of training time to get a whole company ready to deploy."

The 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion hosted classes to help the company meet their 90-day training time.

"There is a set program of training that is set up in three tiers," Galloway said. "If any of our guys need to go into Iraq, they have the facilities in Kuwait to get all the training needed."

This will be the first deployment for some of the Soldiers.

"I am excited but nervous at the same time," said Spc. Jacqueline Estabrook, chemical specialist with the company.

Others are more experienced when it comes to deployments. There are a few who sought a waiver for their dwell time in order to be able to deploy with the 98th.

Dwell time is time earned while deployed and spent at home getting reintegrated. Depending on where they are deployed, Soldiers can earn up to one month dwell time for every month deployed.

Sgt. 1st Class Mario Smith, the company's maintenance supervisor, was one of those who sought out a waiver so he could go with the company.

"I am new to the unit and I wanted to be there to support the unit's mission but also to support my Soldiers and to be there with them the whole time," Smith said.

For the other experienced veterans, many are excited about the prospect of a nine-month versus a 12-month deployment.

"I look forward to it because it's a change of pace and maybe easier on the families," said Staff Sgt. Francisco Espinoza, operations noncommissioned officer of the company.
Some of the Soldiers' families were also happy about the shortened deployment.

"It will hopefully be a lot easier than the other 12-month deployments," said Matt Morgan, son of Sgt. Shane Morgan. "We hope and pray that it goes well."

At the end of the ceremony, company leadership cased the guidon in preparation for deployment. The guidon will remain cased until the company arrives in Kuwait.