‘Unleash the beast’

The Soldiers of B Co., 46th Eng. Bn. stand ready for their deployment ceremony Tuesday at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum. The Soldiers will begin a 15-month deployment to Iraq later this week.

The cage is open and the “Beast” is free, off to Iraq with the good wishes and prayers of the entire Fort Rucker community.

Nearly 150 Soldiers from B Company, 46th Engineer Battalion, “The Beast,” received a rousing farewell from the Fort Rucker community Tuesday, just days before they departed this lower Alabama post for a 15-month deployment to Iraq.

“The unit has served proudly and with distinction throughout World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Shield/Desert Storm and operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom,” Company Platoon Leader Lt. Jeremy Atkinson said as he addressed the large crowd gathered at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum. “Once again, this unit has been called upon to unleash the beast in support of this great nation.”

The company, part of the 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) out of Fort Polk, La., will be in charge of a route sanitation mission while they are in Iraq, according to B Co. executive officer Lt. Mandi Breyman.

“We are going to clean up the roads over there,” she said. “There is a lot of trash on the roads and the Soldiers are going to take dozers and scrapers and clean the trash off the roads (to) ensure the roads are passable.”

The engineers, who will be home based at Camp Liberty in northeast Baghdad, will also be responsible for some electric and plumbing projects during the deployment.

The upcoming tour is the company’s third deployment since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism.

The company’s six-member advance party, including company commander Capt. Chris Beal, left Fort Rucker Sunday bound for Kuwait. The remainder of the company will follow within the week.

“During the past months, I have watched the Beast (grow) into a ready-for-combat combat engineer company,” Lt. Col. Shawn Allen, 1st Battalion, 210th Aviation Regiment commander, said. “In the name of training, the engineers have fixed things, built things, shot things and blown things up. Their accomplishments are many and their training has … matured them into a force to reckon with.”

Maj. Gen. Virgil L. Packett II, U.S. Army Aviation Warfighting Center and Fort Rucker commanding general, offered the deploying Soldiers his best wishes during the deployment ceremony.

Calling upon the famous words Thomas Paine wrote in 1776 during the height of the American Revolution, Packett thanked the deploying engineer Soldiers for their dedication to preserving America’s freedom during a time of war.

“Now is not the time for sunshine patriots, this is a time that tests the nation’s spirit and this is a time to step forward to answer the call to duty and you have all done that,” the general said. “You are not sunshine patriots. You are patriots when it’s raining, when it’s snowing, when it’s sleeting, in the heat and in the sun. Thanks for stepping forward and thanks for being the great Soldiers that you all are.”

The company’s Families present at Tuesday’s ceremony were pleased with the official send off of their Soldiers.

Jessie Portes, whose husband Sgt. Romualdo Portes will leave with the company this week, is a veteran of two previous deployments. The mother of three said her young Family has been “sticking together” during the past few weeks, spending time with each other and talking honestly about the upcoming deployment.

“We have been talking to the kids a lot and have been very honest about what is going to happen (during the deployment),” Jessie Portes said. “We aren’t hiding anything from them and have let them show their emotions and let them know that it is ok for them to be sad.”

Company Family Readiness Group leader Megyn Jefferson, whose husband will deploy with the engineers this week, said her team is dedicated to ensuring every B Co. Family remains connected to the unit throughout the deployment.

“We want the Families to feel like they have a Family here even though their husband or wife, dad or mom is gone,” Jefferson said. “We want them to be taken care of and never feel like they have been forgotten about.”

Packett reminded the Soldiers to communicate with the homefront during the deployment and assured them that Fort Rucker would take good care of their Families while the Soldiers are away.

“You are the best trained, best equipped and the best led Soldiers in the world (and) we are going to do everything we can to get you back to your loved ones,” Packett said.