Deployed Soldiers from 13th ESC celebrate unit’s 47th birthday in Afghanistan with teammates

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Story by US Army Capt. Monika Comeaux
Deputy Command – Support Operations, Public Affairs Officer
NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan

Service members from the Deputy Command of Support Operations, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan came together Sept. 24 to celebrate the 47^th Birthday of the 13^thExpeditionary Sustainment Command here.

Command Sgt. Maj. Terry E. Parham, the senior noncommissioned officer of Deputy Command of Support Operations and the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Spc. Ariel Gallarzo, an ammunition handler and the youngest deployed Soldier of the 13th ESC, Brig. Gen. Clark W. LeMasters, DCOM-SPO and 13th ESC commander and Lt. Col. Ronald Jack, logistics operations chief and the oldest deployed member of the 13th ESC cut a cake to celebrate the 47th birthday of the 13th ESC at Camp Eggers, Afghanistan on Sept. 24. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Monika Comeaux, DCOM-SPO/NTM-A PAO)

Although most service members serving in DCOM-SPO were deployed individually, 136 of the US Soldiers in the command come from the same unit, the 13^th ESC.
 
Participants bowed their heads while one of the 13^th officers lead them in prayer, watched a short video about the unit’s history, and Brig. Gen. Clark W. LeMasters, DCOM-SPO and 13^th ESC commander made a short address before cutting the birthday cake. “I am not here to only celebrate the heritage of the unit that some of us deployed from; I am here to celebrate the accomplishments of everyone in DCOM SPO,” said LeMasters.
 
“We have every service except coast guard within our ranks. We have 23 troop contributing nations within DCOM-SPO. You handle infrastructure, you handle network development, and you handle logistics. Our Afghan partners are getting better in logistics, they are getting better in sustaining themselves,” complemented LeMasters his team.

Service members file through the line to get a piece of the 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command birthday cake on 24 Sept. at Camp Eggers, Afghanistan. The event also celebrates teamwork and accomplishments of the Deputy Command of Support Operations under NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. The reason the birthday celebration was organized is because over 130 members of DCOM-SPO have deployed from 13th ESC to support the logistics training mission. The unit at their home station of Fort Hood, Texas had several birthday week events. To send a happy birthday message, deployed members of the “Lucky 13th” sent a birthday greeting video home for all to see. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Monika Comeaux, DCOM-SPO/NTM-A PAO)

 
Following traditions of military cake cutting, the commander asked the youngest and oldest deployed 13^th ESC Soldiers, Spc. Ariel Gallarzo, an ammunition handler, and Lt. Col. Ronald Jack, the chief of the Fuel and Ammunition Assistance Team within DCOM-SPO, to assist him and Command Sgt. Maj. Terry E. Parham to cut the cake with a sword.
 
“It was a pretty celebration; I wasn’t expecting such a good outcome,” said Shannon K. Armant, Jr., the J4 (logistics) noncommissioned officer in charge. Armant has been with the unit since July of 2011. He assisted with organizing the event, helped with the set up and teardown. It is not easy to get a cake in Afghanistan, but with the help of the Camp Eggers dining facility, the unit got to celebrate with a cake that fed all attendees and bore the unit’s colors. 
 
Deployed members of the 13^th ESC only has a little over two months left before they re-unite with the rest of the unit at Fort Hood, and if still with the unit, all should get to celebrate the unit’s 48^th birthday next year stateside.

NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, is a coalition of 38 troop contributing nations assisting the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in generating a capable and sustainable Afghan National Security Force ready to take lead of their country’s security by 2014. For more information about NTM-A, visit www.ntm-a.com

Tags: Afghan National Security Force, afghanistan, ansf, DCOM-SPO, Feature, featured, Kabul, nato, nato training mission, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, NTM-A

Category: News - General, News - News