Wisconsin National Guard unit honored for deployment excellence

By Sgt. Tyler Lasure

112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

The Tomah-based Headquarters Company of the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 732nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion was recognized as the runner-up in the Chief of Staff of the Army's Deployment Excellence Awards during a ceremony earlier this month.

The 732nd took second place in the National Guard small deploying unit category. The unit deployed to Iraq in 2009 and was in charge of eight companies - approximately 1,280 Soldiers - located at 13 contingency operating bases throughout southern Iraq. Their mission also consisted of running the second-largest supply support activity and ammunition supply point in country.

The DEA is a part of the Chief of Staff's Combined Logistics Excellence Awards, a program that awards achievement in the areas of maintenance, supply operations, and deployment.

"They are looking for units that have deployed and redeployed to a theater of operation and done so in a manner that exceeded the standards," said Maj. Mike Yount, the battalion's support operations officer during the deployment.

The goal is to share and adapt the processes and standard operating procedures used by the top units with other units throughout the areas of operations.

"The DEA is intended to find practices in both training and logistics to be shared with other units based on pre-deployment, deployment, deployment activities, and redeployment," said Lt. Col. John Blaha, commander of the 732nd during the deployment.

One of the reasons the 732nd was recognized is that the unit spent less than 30 days at the mobilization site, Blaha said. The short mobilization allowed the unit to spend almost 11 months in Iraq.

The award is a two-phase process. "You put in a packet and it goes up to be reviewed," Yount explained. "If you are chosen, then they send a team to the armory to see the different products on hand that made the unit successful."

The unit's ability to work cohesively, focus and move toward a common goal helped the unit take runner-up, Blaha said. The honor of being recognized is not lost on the unit.

"It's very prestigious," Yount said. "It's for the unit, not the individual - as a unit, every person was responsible for the award."

"It is a great honor for the members of the 732nd," Blaha added. "It shows their pride, work ethic and commitment to excellence."

"It is good to see the Wisconsin Army National Guard get recognition for what we always do," Yount said.