Change of command and deployment ceremony: The 208 gets ready to head to Kuwait

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The 208th Construction Management Team from the Alaska Army National Guard will deploy to Kuwait in December, supporting Operation Spartan Shield.

A command change and deployment ceremony was held on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) honoring the soldiers set to leave friends, family and jobs for roughly 10 months.

“We know we’re a small group of technical experts,” Capt. Trey Caram, new commander of the 208, said. “What we do is we actually go forward and we conduct quality assurance and inspection on construction projects that the Army might be building with foreign nationals or troops downrange. We kind of make sure everything is meeting quality and safety standards so that it’s all going according to plan.”

Sgt. Lester Tuazon is one of the seven soldiers set to deploy. He’s a technical engineer tasked with surveying, computer-aided drafting, and materials testing.

“I am excited to deploy because we’ll be doing a big mission out over there in Kuwait, but I am a little bit sad that I will be leaving my families, but that is the job and that’s what I’m here to do,” Tuazon said, adding that he’s leaving behind an 11-month-old daughter named Mavis.

“A good part of it is she’s not gonna remember me being gone,” he said.

While Tuazon says he will miss his family, he’s also excited to do the job his team has been training to do.

“Our mission is pretty much to provide quality assurance and quality control in all the projects that we have over there in CENTCOM [Central Command in the Middle East],“ he explained.

“What I’m most excited about is traveling around seeing the different countries — seeing the different cultures while also helping out with all the projects.”

Tuazon said the 208th does a lot of pre-construction work — like surveying — to allow for a better understanding of the project and ensure quality design.

“I do enjoy it. Specifically surveying,” he said. “It’s kind of like hiking with a stick, right? But with this stick, not only are you getting your exercise, I do like (physical training), you’re getting a good walk in while also performing your job.

“You get a nice peaceful hike and you’re surveying the land and acquiring that information right on the land before everybody else comes in.”

The 208th Construction Management Team falls under the 297th Regional Support Command for the Alaska Army National Guard.

“The Alaska Army National Guard is a relatively small force,” Col. Michele Edwards, who oversees the 297th, said.

“The Army side in Alaska is unique where our Air Guard is larger than the Army Guard. Most states it’s the reverse, but in the Alaska Army National Guard, we have just under 1,600 soldiers. But of those 1,600 soldiers, we have been supporting the operational requirements for federal missions just as much, if not more than other states.

“This is our fourth unit deploying in the last year.”

Edwards has overseen six deployments over a two-year time period. She said that while a small unit of seven soldiers, the 208th has meticulously prepared for this mission by serving Alaskans.

“They got notified of this mission just over four months ago,” Edwards said. “So it has been a very quick turnaround. Thankfully, they had already been doing their job in Cordova in June. They got notified of the mission for the deployment shortly thereafter and then we shifted our focus to this deployment.”

The team was in Cordova as part of IRT, or Innovative Readiness Training. The 208th was helping to build a road before they received the new mission, but that mission set them up for what they’ll be working on for the next 10 months.

“They’re actually building a new oil spill management facility out at Shepherds Point,” Caram said. “So currently this year [we were] building and putting in a new road. In the future, they’re actually going to establish a new facility at that location, and we’re hoping to drop back on that project when we come back [from deployment].”

Caram said he’s excited not only to lead this group of soldiers on their mission, but to do the job he’s been training for.

“We spend a lot of time getting ready to go places,” he said. “So it’s nice to actually get that payoff when we go forward and are actually able to serve the country doing real things with real consequences for ourselves.”

It’s a job that Edwards holds in high regard due to the personal sacrifices the citizen-soldiers make for their state and country.

“I just want to say thank you to all the families and the civilian employers,” she explained. “I have the I have the benefit of being fulltime, so I have one job. I have an easy job compared to a lot of our soldiers who work a civilian job and then come and do their guard duty one weekend a month or two weeks.

“Or in this case for a year because they’re deploying. So I really want to say thank you to our civilian employers who do sacrifice by losing their employees for almost a year because of their guard requirements.”

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.