DoMaD welcomes home ‘Bulldog’ Brigade advance party
Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s advance party get their common access cards scanned by the Directorate of Mobilization and Deployment’s personnel section. Photo by Ashley Alameda, DoMaD Public Affairs.
Ashley Alameda,
DoMaD Public Affairs:
A homecoming ceremony is one of the brightest moments in Army life. It signifies an end to a long, hard year at work for many Soldiers and a long year of waiting for many Army families.
For those who have been around the Army long enough, chances are they have seen or been involved in a homecoming ceremony or two. But who really knows what goes into making an event that so many men, women and children look forward to for an entire year? The Directorate of Mobilization and Deployment does.
DoMaD, formerly known as the Mobilization and Deployment Brigade, is led by Col. Eric T. Judkins and Command Sgt. Maj. Gabriel R. Jimenez, and they are the subject-matter experts of redeployments. DoMaD’s main goal is to organize an efficient reception station that ensures the safety of the Soldiers, unit and mission during redeployment. The secondary goal is to complete this task as efficiently as possible so the excited Soldiers may be released to their anxious family members.
On May 27, Fort Bliss and DoMaD welcomed home the second group of Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, from Afghanistan. The rear-detachment command for the brigade had been working with DoMaD for months in preparation to receive the 135 members scheduled to return.
This was among the first of many upcoming flights that will eventually bring home approximately 3,400 Soldiers in total.
The leaders of the incoming brigade were not silent about their gratitude. Capt. Ashton Daily, plans officer in charge for the brigade, spoke of DoMaD’s assistance.
“Without them, rear detachment would not have had all the resources needed for a smooth redeployment,” said Daily.
Daily and the rear detachment brigade commander, Maj. Joel D. Newsom, worked with Maj. Eric C. Schack and Staff Sgt. Jose L. Perez of DoMaD’s S-3/plans department for four months before the event. Schack and Perez were tasked to coordinate all aspects of the homecoming, from the accountability scanning of the troops as they stepped off the plane to the smoke and strobe lights they march through as they enter the Departure/Arrival Airfield Control Group facility, better known as the DAACG. From the time the plane landed at 7:30 a.m., the Soldiers had fulfilled their duties and were in their family’s arms in less than an hour.
When a Soldier gets off the plane, the first thing he does is turn in his weapon. DoMaD’s S-4 section receives the weapon, verifies the serial number, stores and transports all of them to the units’ arms rooms. The next station is DoMaD’s S-1 where they have their ID cards scanned into a database, confirming their arrival. After all personnel have been scanned in, the rosters are printed, compared to the manifests and turned into the unit and the Soldier Resilience and Readiness Center.
The third station is their unit’s S-2 section where they would turn in any classified material, including electronics or other sensitive items. Fourth is Behavioral Health where they are given a short assessment for their safety and the safety of their family members.
Once everyone has passed through all the stations, they are formed up outside on the flight line and marched into the DAACG to an eager crowd with posters, balloons and flashing cameras.
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