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BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – When members of the 52nd Ordnance
Group (EOD) return to Fort Campbell, KY, after serving eight months
as Combined Joint Task Force Paladin here, most will do so as a unit
and be met by a large group of family, friends and fellow soldiers
waiting to welcome them home.
For Paladin members like Maj.
Mike Ricciardi, the welcome home
will be just as heartfelt, but a little more low key. Soldiers and
civilians like Ricciardi who are deployed under the Army's Worldwide
Individual Augmentation System, or WIAS, deploy as individuals as
opposed to with their unit, and return home the same way.
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January 5, 2014 - U.S. Army Maj. Michael Ricciardi, an explosive ordnance disposal officer
assigned to the 21st Theater Sustainment Command at Kaiserslautern,
Germany, deployed to Afghanistan under the Worldwide Individual
Augmentation System to work with Combined Joint Task Force Paladin.
(Photo by Ed Drohan, Combined Joint Task Force Paladin Public
Affairs)
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Just under half of the military members assigned to CJTF
Paladin were deployed under the WIAS program, to include
Ricciardi, an explosive ordnance disposal and logistics
officer deployed from the 21st Special Troops Battalion,
21st Theater Sustainment Command at Kaiserslautern, Germany.
He is currently working at Bagram with the 242nd Ordnance
Battalion (EOD) which has assumed responsibility for
Paladin's mission of providing EOD and counter improvised
explosive device expertise and training to U.S., coalition
and Afghan National Security Forces throughout the theater
of operations.
WIAS is the primary method for
requesting military and civilian augmentation for
contingency operations, recurring operations and exercises.
For Paladin, it's used to augment the unit with personnel
who have qualifications either not inherent or not currently
available in the deploying unit, said Lt. Col. Christopher
Cox, CJTF Paladin chief of staff.
For Ricciardi, this deployment started with a
requirement from U.S. Army Forces Command for an EOD
qualified officer. The logistics branch, under which EOD
officers fall, then identified him to fill the position.
Ricciardi deployed to Afghanistan in March to fill the
identified position.
While he just finished serving
as the Joint Task Force J3 for the 184th Ordnance Battalion
(EOD) and battalion forward tactical command post (TAC)
officer in charge for the 242nd at Bagram, he's also worked
in several other positions in Paladin, to include working
with Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines and coalition units to
include the British, Australians, Czech and Slovak EOD both
at Bagram and at Kandahar. In each capacity, efforts were
focused on balancing combat operations and Train Advise and
Assist (TAA) advisory operations with Afghan National
Security Forces (ANSF). He has two previous combat
deployments to Iraq as an EOD officer in which he deployed
with his unit and said there are pluses and minuses involved
in both types of deployment.
“What I missed (in
deploying as a WIAS augmentee) is the mission specific
individual training and team building tasks and exercises
that you go through in the buildup for deployment with your
unit,” Ricciardi said. “Those are the mission set specific
individual and collective tasks you put into use after you
deploy.”
On the positive side, he has been able to
work with various units and in various positions since
joining Paladin.
“I've been able to work with three
different battalions and both the Army and Navy in Paladin,”
Ricciardi explained. The Navy's Mobile Explosive Ordnance
Unit 2 was responsible for CJTF Paladin operations before
the 52nd OD (EOD) took over in May. “You have to look at it
as an opportunity. When you deploy like this, teams come and
go while you remain behind. You have to inject yourself into
the team.”
Ricciardi suggested that anybody who will
be deploying under WIAS contact the unit they'll be assigned
to before leaving home station to help determine what
they'll be doing when they arrive.
“When you get
there you need to keep your game face on,” he added.
“Whatever way you can make yourself useful is value added.”
Ricciardi is now in “double digits” and will be
returning to Germany soon for his more personal homecoming,
but he does so knowing he made an important contribution to
the CJTF Paladin mission, both as an individual augmentee
and as part of the Paladin team.
By Ed Drohan
Combined Joint Task Force Paladin Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
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