Springfield National Guard unit honored before deployment overseas

This is not the first deployment for Staff Sgt. Jacob East, but he said people still get anxious, and the biggest thing is being away from your family.

“You really just start focusing on the mission at hand, and what we have to do as a team,” East said. “We rely on each other to be a family, which is what we are as a unit. We’re leaving a family here, but we’re going overseas with our other family.”

While deployed, the 1137th Signal Company (Tactical Installation and Networking Enhanced, or TIN-E) will provide installation recovery, repair, and maintenance of computer network lines, in order to maintain effective communication.

“Always be improving your foxhole” is a saying that soldiers have heard for 200-plus years, but the Signal Company works to improve the technological base that teams work from.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Elijah Perez said this will be his third deployment. He said the preparation is a lot of work and stress, but once the unit gets there, he can just focus on “being able to do my job.”

“A whole lot of my family showed up today, which makes me very happy,” Perez said. “Just hugs and see-you-laters, more than goodbyes.”

Spartan Shield is an operation in the Middle East, and Task Force Spartan is the U.S. Army component. The Army says Task Force Spartan “maintains a U.S. military posture in Southwest Asia sufficient to strengthen our defense relationships and build partner capacity.”

Staff Sgt. East said the group spent the past year training for this work and hopes to be gone for 9-10 months. While leaving is tough, still being able to communicate with family while overseas is a plus.

Asked what he tells his daughter before deployment, East said, “Daddy’s going to work for a little while — I just have to leave and tell her I’ll be back. But I’ll talk to her on FaceTime.”