Fort Bliss Monitor

Soldiers prepare to deploy to tsunami disaster area - Teams will help identify dead, process personal items

Travis Edwards
Fort Lee Strategic Outreach Officer

In response to the deadly tsunami that struck southwest Asia last week, Fort Lee is sending several teams of mortuary affairs specialists to help bring closure and proper accountability to the families of the many victims of the disaster.

About 30 members of the 54th Quartermaster Company, 49th Special Troops Battalion, 49th Quartermaster Group will begin to immediately deploy to the region.

With the mounting death toll the teams will undoubtedly be working under a fast operational tempo in some very remote and dangerous locations, but that doesn’t deter the group made up of all volunteers.

“There’s no amount of mental preparation you can do to prepare yourself for the mission, but we have all the training we need to do the job,” said 18-year-old Pvt. Tristian LaFollette, 54th QM Co., who has only been in the Army six months since leaving her home in Washington state. Disease is “a risk worth taking. I’ll just have to take it in stride.”

The unit is the only active unit of its type in the Army and is tasked to identify, process and remove the remains of Soldiers and civilians in combat zones around the world. They also provide the same support for victims of disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes.

“Mortuary Affairs are a special breed of soldiers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ronald E. Holliday, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the unit. “We are trained more so than the average soldier to deal with the rigors of death.”

“The dead will be difficult to identify,” Holliday said since most of the countries do not have proper identification records such as DNA or fingerprinting.

One of the only ways they have identifying a person, he said, is “someone coming in and saying, ‘That’s my brother or friend.’”

The unit currently has Soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also sent Soldiers to the Pentagon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to assist in recovery efforts.

Disaster relief officials estimate more than 150,000 people were killed by the massive waves that struck southwest Asia Dec. 26.

Army units supporting tsunami relief effort

Eric W. Cramer
Army News Service

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gov. Jeb Bush meet with Army Col. Jack Dibrell, right, the chief of the Joint United States Military Advisory Group Thailand in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 4. The U. S. military has shipped out more than 350,000 pounds of material. The Thai military has delivered more than a million pounds by trucks, boats and planes at their disposal.

WASHINGTON – Several Army units are among the many military assets the United States is using to bring relief to the victims of an earthquake-induced tsunami in the Far East.

Deploying as part of the Combined Support Force for the disaster relief effort are a variety of Army experts from areas as widely spread as Thailand and Arkansas.

U.S. Army Forces Command is sending four mortuary affairs teams from Fort Lee, Va. The teams will provide help in identification, processing and evacuation of the dead from the disaster.

The 8th Army, Korea, is deploying medical and logistic units including CH-47 Chinook helicopters to provide evacuation and supply distribution and medical assistance to those in the affected area.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sending three Forward Engineering Support Teams from Japan, Alaska and Arkansas to help in the area’s recovery. Each team consists of a military team leader, a civil engineer, a structural engineer and a geotechnical engineer.

In addition to the team members, each team will also include two noncommissioned officers with the Corps of Engineers’ 249th Primary Power Battalion, according to Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Stan Heath.

The team deploying from Alaska will provide assistance to Indonesia. The Japan contingent is headed to Sri Lanka, and the team from Arkansas is headed to Thailand.

The teams will help assess the damage to the countries’ infrastructure and aid with reconstruction planning.
In addition to the FEST support, an engineer from the Engineering Research and Development Center, in Vicksburg, Miss., has also headed to the area. The engineer is a Thai native who will be attached to the Joint Task Force Humanitarian Assistance Cell. Originally planning to travel to Thailand to participate as a liaison in the annual Cobra Gold exercise, she has now gone to the region separate from the FEST teams to reinforce Army efforts in the area.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C., is sending three civil affairs teams and a psychological operations assessment team. The CA teams consist of a planning team and two civil affairs teams to coordinate relief efforts. The PSYOP assessment team will use its broadcast and production capabilities to focus on information distribution concert with local officials and relief organizations.

The Army is part of a joint and combined expeditionary force deploying from around the globe to support this disaster relief effort. U.S. Army Pacific is the lead coordinating command for Army support to the CSF..



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	January 13, 2005

<map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	Soldiers prepare to deploy to tsunami disaster area - Teams will help identify dead, process personal items Travis Edwards Fort Lee Strategic Outreach Officer In response to the deadly tsunami that struck southwest Asia last week, Fort Lee is sending several teams of mortuary affairs specialists to help bring closure and proper accountability to the families of the many victims of the disaster. About 30 members of the 54th Quartermaster Company, 49th Special Troops Battalion, 49th Quartermaster Group will begin to immediately deploy to the region. With the mounting death toll the teams will undoubtedly be working under a fast operational tempo in some very remote and dangerous locations, but that doesn’t deter the group made up of all volunteers. “There’s no amount of mental preparation you can do to prepare yourself for the mission, but we have all the training we need to do the job,” said 18-year-old Pvt. Tristian LaFollette, 54th QM Co., who has only been in the Army six months since leaving her home in Washington state. Disease is “a risk worth taking. I’ll just have to take it in stride.” The unit is the only active unit of its type in the Army and is tasked to identify, process and remove the remains of Soldiers and civilians in combat zones around the world. They also provide the same support for victims of disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes. “Mortuary Affairs are a special breed of soldiers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ronald E. Holliday, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the unit. “We are trained more so than the average soldier to deal with the rigors of death.” “The dead will be difficult to identify,” Holliday said since most of the countries do not have proper identification records such as DNA or fingerprinting. One of the only ways they have identifying a person, he said, is “someone coming in and saying, ‘That’s my brother or friend.’” The unit currently has Soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also sent Soldiers to the Pentagon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to assist in recovery efforts. Disaster relief officials estimate more than 150,000 people were killed by the massive waves that struck southwest Asia Dec. 26. Army units supporting tsunami relief effort Eric W. Cramer Army News Service Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gov. Jeb Bush meet with Army Col. Jack Dibrell, right, the chief of the Joint United States Military Advisory Group Thailand in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 4. The U. S. military has shipped out more than 350,000 pounds of material. The Thai military has delivered more than a million pounds by trucks, boats and planes at their disposal. WASHINGTON – Several Army units are among the many military assets the United States is using to bring relief to the victims of an earthquake-induced tsunami in the Far East. Deploying as part of the Combined Support Force for the disaster relief effort are a variety of Army experts from areas as widely spread as Thailand and Arkansas. U.S. Army Forces Command is sending four mortuary affairs teams from Fort Lee, Va. The teams will provide help in identification, processing and evacuation of the dead from the disaster. The 8th Army, Korea, is deploying medical and logistic units including CH-47 Chinook helicopters to provide evacuation and supply distribution and medical assistance to those in the affected area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sending three Forward Engineering Support Teams from Japan, Alaska and Arkansas to help in the area’s recovery. Each team consists of a military team leader, a civil engineer, a structural engineer and a geotechnical engineer. In addition to the team members, each team will also include two noncommissioned officers with the Corps of Engineers’ 249th Primary Power Battalion, according to Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Stan Heath. The team deploying from Alaska will provide assistance to Indonesia. The Japan contingent is headed to Sri Lanka, and the team from Arkansas is headed to Thailand. The teams will help assess the damage to the countries’ infrastructure and aid with reconstruction planning. In addition to the FEST support, an engineer from the Engineering Research and Development Center, in Vicksburg, Miss., has also headed to the area. The engineer is a Thai native who will be attached to the Joint Task Force Humanitarian Assistance Cell. Originally planning to travel to Thailand to participate as a liaison in the annual Cobra Gold exercise, she has now gone to the region separate from the FEST teams to reinforce Army efforts in the area. U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C., is sending three civil affairs teams and a psychological operations assessment team. The CA teams consist of a planning team and two civil affairs teams to coordinate relief efforts. The PSYOP assessment team will use its broadcast and production capabilities to focus on information distribution concert with local officials and relief organizations. The Army is part of a joint and combined expeditionary force deploying from around the globe to support this disaster relief effort. U.S. Army Pacific is the lead coordinating command for Army support to the CSF..