ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - A year ago Lt. Col. Matt Johnson was facing the monumental task of moving a complete signal battalion from Florida to a combat zone halfway across the globe.
His unit - the Florida Army National Guard's 146th Expeditionary Signal Battalion (ESB) - was short on deployable Soldiers, facing a tight schedule, dealing with logistics issues and fielding brand new communications equipment.
As the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Johnson knew that the only thing for the 146th ESB to do was meet the challenges head-on with "nearly perfect logistics planning."
Now the 146th is on the ground in Iraq helping coalition forces communicate and the months of painstaking planning have come to fruition, according to Johnson.
"The Battalion is fully engaged in missions throughout the entire country of Iraq, located at more than 35 different locations," Johnson explained. "Through excellent logistics planning, the right equipment was transported to the right sites, right on time for mission success. This was an incredible feat, and one from which we continue to profit."
The 146th is one of only seven expeditionary signal battalions in the Army, and the only one of its kind in the National Guard. As part of its mission the unit operates state-of-the-art communications equipment to transmit data, voice, video teleconferencing, and secure Internet which allows commanders and coalition forces to communicate.
When the 146th received official word in early 2008 that it was deploying for a year-long mission to Iraq, the unit was already tackling some big challenges. It had recently been converted from a traditional National Guard signal battalion into a state-of-the-art expeditionary signal battalion with new equipment. Also, the battalion was facing personnel issues and needed more qualified Soldiers to operate the new equipment.
"The Battalion's greatest challenge was a huge deficit in the number of deployable Soldiers," explained the commander. "We overcame this deficit by the overwhelming number of Soldiers from other Florida Army National Guard units who volunteered to deploy with our Battalion. Most of them reclassified to a Signal MOS (Military Occupation Skill) to do so."
A massive recruiting effort to bring trained Soldiers and volunteers into the unit netted nearly 200 volunteers into the ESB. Because many were not qualified in the necessary military specialties, the ESB partnered with the U.S. Army Signal School and the Florida Community College in Jacksonville to develop intense, condensed Signal classes. More than 160 Soldiers were trained in three different specialties during these six-week classes, according to unit leaders.
Another challenge the unit overcame was preparing and moving more than 400 pieces of military communications equipment for transport to Iraq.
The 146th ESB and Florida Army National Guard logistics specialists conducted a massive rail load operation in Jacksonville in the fall of 2008, placing vehicles and satellite equipment on 75 rail cars. From there the train took the equipment to a departure seaport for transport to Southwest Asia. This was the largest rail load of Florida Army National Guard equipment in recent history.
"Due to the tight window of time needed to prepare and load our equipment for shipping, rail load it to port, ship it to Southwest Asia, and then transport the right equipment to the right site in Iraq, I would say that the initial success of the Battalion's mission hinged upon the nearly perfect logistics planning," Johnson said.
He added that "the deployment became a huge logistics exercise due to equipment needing to be moved immediately from the ship in Kuwait straight to the final site in Iraq in order to meet our deployment timeline."
Johnson credited his logistics team's unwavering attention to detail, meticulous planning practices and ability to easily overcome frustrations during the move as reasons the movement to Iraq was successful for the 146th.
More than 400 Soldiers are currently serving with the 146th Expeditionary Signal Battalion in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit is scheduled to return in late 2009.