Spartans welcome forward support company

by Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Smith
4/25th IBCT Public Affairs

10/9/2014 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Paratroopers with the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, welcomed some new comrades into the Spartan Brigade during a reflagging and re-patching ceremony Oct. 1 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The 725th Brigade Support Battalion formally added a new forward support company, attaching it to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion during the ceremony.

The new logistics support company, Echo Company, transferred into the 4/25th IBCT from U.S. Army Alaska's 6th Engineer Battalion, 2d Engineer Brigade, as part of the larger Army-wide force restructuring currently underway.

The unit will bring direct support to the 425th BSTB in the way of equipment maintenance, fuel and ammunition supply.

The FSC was originally constituted into the 2nd Engineer Brigade in 2008 at Fort Richardson and has supported operations around the world to include missions in Micronesia, the Philippines and Australia.

The unit, composed mostly of qualified parachutists, will continue to train in airborne operations as it joins the Spartan Brigade. The 4/25th IBCT, one of five airborne brigades in the Army, has undergone extensive airborne training this year. The unit has coordinated with not only its joint Air Force partners at JBER, but also with Air Force units from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington , and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. The additional aircraft have allowed the Spartan Brigade to schedule large packages of personnel and equipment drops, leading to greater brigade-wide efficiency and ability in airborne operations.

"It's awesome, we get to jump more now," said Army Staff Sgt. Danny Uk, a section sergeant with Echo Company. "And we can provide support to the whole battalion. Our guys are motivated and we will bring a lot of capabilities to our new team."

Echo Company's leadership expressed confidence in the unit's ability to conduct operations and its dependability.

"We have competent and capable NCOs and Soldiers," said 1st Sgt. William Plachinski, Echo Company's first sergeant. "We have a great track record of servicing and maintaining equipment as well as providing fuel and ammunition distribution, and we intend to bring those same qualities and attributes to the 4/25."