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HomeNewsFort Campbell's 101st Sustainment Brigade 'Lifeliners' case their colors

Fort Campbell’s 101st Sustainment Brigade ‘Lifeliners’ case their colors

Written by Sgt. 1st Class Mary Rose Mittlesteadt
101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

Fort Campbell KY, 101st Airborne Division101st Sustainment Brigade - Lifeliners

Fort Campbell, KY – The 101st Sustainment Brigade “Lifeliners,” along with the brigade’s 101st Special Troops Battalion, case their colors in an outdoor ceremony, April 12th, at Fort Campbell, KY.

Col. Charles R. Hamilton, the brigade’s commander and his senior noncommissioned officer in charge Command, Sgt. Maj. Eugene J. Thomas Jr., simultaneously with Lt. Col. Derek G. Bean, the battalion’s commander and his senior noncommissioned officer in charge Command, Sgt. Maj. Christopher T. Crawford, roll their colors and sheath them in sleeves.

Col. Charles R. Hamilton and Command Sgt. Maj. Eugene Thomas, the command team of the 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), case the brigade colors, April 12, at Fort Campbell, Ky. The color casing ceremony is a time-honored tradition for units prior to deployment. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Leejay Lockhart)
Col. Charles R. Hamilton and Command Sgt. Maj. Eugene Thomas, the command team of the 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), case the brigade colors, April 12, at Fort Campbell, Ky. The color casing ceremony is a time-honored tradition for units prior to deployment. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Leejay Lockhart)

Both the brigade and its special troops battalion colors will remain encased until the two units arrive in Afghanistan later this spring. The act of casing the colors is an Army tradition that symbolizes a units upcoming deployment.

This deployment will be the brigade headquarters’ third deployment to the Afghanistan theater in five years and marks the Lifeliners sixth deployment between Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, since 2001.

“We are deploying with a group of highly experienced soldiers to execute a very important mission and I am confident that the Lifeliners soldiers will have a successful rendezvous with destiny,” said Col. Charles R. Hamilton, the brigade commander prior to casing the brigade’s colors. The mission for the Lifeliners in Afghanistan “is clear,” added Hamilton. The brigade will provide sustainment support and retrograde operations. The brigade will also be providing sustainment support to the Soldiers of Regional Command-East, commanded by Fort Campbell’s Maj. Gen. James C. McConville.

U.S. Army Col. Charles R. Hamilton and Command Sgt. Maj. Eugene Thomas, the commander and senior enlisted adviser for the 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), case the brigade colors April 12, 2013, at Fort Campbell, Ky. The color casing ceremony is one of the final events for the unit before it deploys to Afghanistan later in the spring. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Leejay Lockhart/Released)

“One of our primary missions will be retrograde operations in a land locked country,” said Hamilton. Along with the brigade headquarter’s special troops battalion, the Lifeliners will pick up two additional battalions downrange and several other detachments to ensure our mission will be met.

“We will have the task of retrograding our fair share of 35 thousand vehicles and 95 thousand shipping containers,” said Hamilton. “The theme here is that Lifeliners have been in the fight since shortly after combat operations began in 2001. Our soldiers have trained hard and are fit, trained and disciplined and ready to execute this mission.”

In closure Hamilton recited an inspirational quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, “The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comforts and convenience but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy.”

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