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Feature Stories

NEWS | Nov. 27, 2019

Deployment Offers Chance at Growth for 1st TSC Soldiers

By Ms. Wendy Arevalo 1st Theater Sustainment Command

Deployments are old hat for many of the Soldiers with 1st Theater Sustainment Command (TSC), but for those who have never deployed before, like Spc. Dylan Contreras, it’s a new and exciting experience.

“I have all the common jitters,” said Contreras, an information technology specialist with the 1st TSC. “I’m really anxious, but excited at the same time, because it’s going to be broadening for me.”

Contreras is just one of the 1st TSC Soldiers who participated in a deployment ceremony Nov. 26, 2019, at the Sadowski Center on post.

The team of deploying Soldiers is known as the Strategic Operations and Plans (SOaP) “Blue Team.” It will replace the SOaP “White Team,” which is scheduled to return in December.

Every six months, the 1st TSC deploys a team of Soldiers and civilians from its main command post at Fort Knox, Ky., to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, to supplement the expeditionary sustainment commands that make up its operational command post. The team also provides planning and strategic oversight.

The host of the ceremony, Col. Rodney Honeycutt, chief of staff, 1st TSC, discussed the importance of the SOaP team.

“The SOaP team is the 1st TSC command post’s constant forward presence, always ready to respond to contingencies and set conditions for successful sustainment operations across the CENTCOM AOR,” said Honeycutt.

Since 2006, the 1st TSC has been continuously deployed to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, a 20-country, six-million-square mile region where it conducts sustainment operations to ensure warfighters have the supplies and transportation capabilities they need to accomplish their mission.

Maj. Rosalyn Dumbravo, detailed inspector general, 1st TSC, is one of the Soldiers deploying with the SOaP team. She said this will be her fourth deployment in the Army, but her first deployment to this location.

“I’m excited; it’s my time going to Camp Arifjan,” said the mother of two. “It’ll be a great experience, and hopefully I’ll learn a lot about the theater of operations,” Dumbravo added.

The Blue Team prepared for deployment by completing dozens of classroom and individual readiness trainings including marksmanship, medical, chemical, and other preparatory tasks, and culminated in a week-long academic exercise on military decision-making (MDMP).