RIO RANCHO, N.M. - Approximately 30 Soldiers from the 3631st Signal Company have reunited with their families, ending a deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to support Operation Spartan Shield.
The Soldiers spent the past 10 months away from home performing their duties as communications experts, from maintaining signal equipment to providing radio support for the 36th Sustainment Brigade from the Texas National Guard and other forces in the region.
While the unit was relatively small, their responsibilities and their expertise were essential in the success of the mission of the 36th SB and its subordinate units.
Staff Sgt. Lorenzo Cordova, who deployed as a cable systems installer-maintainer, brought the experience of four previous deployments to the unit.
"Being in a supervisory role was my primary function, just taking care of teams and Soldiers," Cordova said. "They did a lot of sustaining. We would work a lot with our equipment to ensure it was working properly when needed."
Many of the Soldiers had never deployed or spent so long away from their families.
1st Lt. Elrond Wedel, who commanded the deployed Soldiers, had been activated once before to support the state's COVID-19 response but had not deployed overseas. He left his wife, Sheree, and three daughters, during the mission.
"I didn't think we would get to see him for Thanksgiving," Sheree said. "We just wanted to give him a hug and see him again. It was really hard at first because we knew it would be a long time, but we could communicate through video and we spent a lot of time with family to make the time go by faster."