• Home
  • Product
  • Testimonials
  • About
  • Contact
  • STAC Login
    • Search Profiles
STAC Card
  • Home
  • Product
  • Testimonials
  • About
  • Contact
  • STAC Login
    • Search Profiles

Deployment Blog

1/20/2019

5 Comments

 
Picture
Life has an interesting way of taking your plans and throwing them out the window. I remember the exact day, June 26th , I had a business meeting in the morning and an hour later I was back at the office and received a call from my battalion executive officer saying that I was being transferred to another unit, and the unit would be deploying in September.

The next call I made was to my 8-month pregnant wife, Julie. Talk about a difficult call. With my mind scattered I left work and went for a 6-mile run. All the dreams and aspirations of the next year of bonding with my future daughter went out the window. But I always knew this was a possibility when I enlisted in the Army Guard.

August 3rd, my daughter Jane is born. I get 8 days with her and my wife, before I must leave for two weeks for annual training with my new unit, the 637th Chemical company. I am meeting most of these people for the first time, and I will be spending most of the next year with these soldiers.

After two weeks, I am back home for the next month before I leave. The next month I spent as much time with my wife and daughter. We go on lots of mini trips and even have a holiday party for all the holidays that I am going to miss. 

After that month was up, I went to Fort Hood for pre-mobilization training. That was the toughest day of my life leaving Julie and Jane. A day I would not want to live again.
Picture
Picture
The mission of the 637th is to be the only chemical response company for the entire Central Command. Basically, we are like firefighters, except instead of responding to fires, we respond to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events (CBRN).
​
My role in this mission is that I am a team leader (I have two soldiers in my command) of an Initial Entry Team (IET). After a CBRN event my team is the first team to make entry into a building to provide a site characterization. I have to be the eyes and ears for the Command Post (CP) to provide meticulous details about what I see. It sounds easy enough but talking into a radio while wearing a level A suit with 2 layers of gloves, SCBA unit with a full face mask can be difficult. The whole site characterization at minimum takes an hour. The most difficult thing is the shield fogging up. It’s hard to do a site characterization when you can’t see. You have to remember to bring a towel to wipe down the face shield.

Picture
After the site characterization my team goes through the decontamination line and go to the medics. Next I brief the CP and they make decisions on next steps. Which is either sending another IET or send the sampling team into the site.

Day-to-day we have PT at 0600 and then eat and shower and start our workday at 0900. We do various training event: practical exercises, equipment training, SCBA training, and various army warrior task. The day is usually over between 1600-1800.
Picture
The hardest part is being away from friends and family. My only connection to my daughter is the 3-4 times that I can Facetime with her and my wife, the 8-hour time difference makes it challenging to align schedules. It’s hard to see her grow up and not be there with her and experience everything that she is experiencing. She is almost 6 months old now and rolling over and smiling all the time.
Picture
But I am taking it day by day. I’m using the experience to learn more about my army job and grow physically and mentally. Everyday is a new challenge, but I look forward to completing our mission and eventually coming home.
Picture
Picture
5 Comments
Ben Kahmann
1/21/2019 09:59:20 am

Craig,

Great blog and glad to see you're doing well. It's certainly tough to leave a family behind, but we are all better back here for it.

Thank you for the sacrifice!

Ben

Reply
Kevin
1/21/2019 07:09:50 pm

Craig,

Thank you brother for your sacrifice and your dedication to our country. I’m glad to hear of the new role and leadership position. We are proud of you and miss you brother. You are in our prayers and on our prayer list at church brother. Stay safe and see you soon.
Kevin

Reply
Jordan Bush link
2/26/2019 06:28:11 pm

Sergeant Bengel,

Thank you for your continued service to our country. It is not often to see someone else who dawns the CBRN patch on the uniform. Hopefully, I will be able to speak with you next week at the OSC2019.

Jordan Bush, CSP (USA, Retired)

Reply
Kris Miller
3/12/2019 09:32:56 pm

Thanks for sharing Craig and thank you and all your men for their service. And what a beautiful daughter you have. Stay safe

Reply
Doug Schuchhardt
3/13/2019 06:59:40 am

What a beautiful family. That baby will take your heart. Thank you for leaving all of that for me and my family. You are a special person and deserve all the good things that come your way. Let me know when you get back. Take Care of Yourself.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    STAC Admin

    Categories

    All
    Army
    Monday Motivation
    OSHA
    Safety Articles
    Safety Pictures
    Safety Stats
    Safety Videos
    STAC
    Training Series

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2020
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017

    RSS Feed

STAC Enterprises, LLC Copyright © 2017-2021
  • Home
  • Product
  • Testimonials
  • About
  • Contact
  • STAC Login
    • Search Profiles