5th Engineer Battalion transfers authority
to 37th Engineer Battalion

3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) PAO

	photo by Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman/37th Eng. Bn. PAO Lt. Col. Paul Huszar, commander of the 37th Engineer Battalion – Joint Task Force Eagle, unrolls the 37th Eng. Bn. colors during a transfer of authority ceremony Friday at Joint Base Balad. Sgt. Major Wayne Durham, the 37th Eng. Bn.’s command sergeant major, assists Huszar.

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — The 555th Engineer Brigade bid farewell to one unit and welcomed another as the 37th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne) assumed authority from the 5th Engineer Battalion here in a transfer of authority ceremony Friday. 

The change marks the end of a successful 15-month deployment by the 5th Eng. Bn. Headquarters, Forward Support, 515th, 55th, and 509th companies from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. as well as for the engineer companies assigned to the ‘Fighting Fifth’ that include the 63rd Combat Support Company from Fort Benning, Ga., the 87th Sapper Company from Fort Hood, Texas, the 561st Horizontal Engineer Company from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and the 571st Sapper Company from Fort Lewis, Wash.

Highlights from the 5th Eng. Bn. deployment include interdiction of over 300 improvised explosive devices and 132 unexploded ordinance repair of more than 225 craters; denial of 150 culverts; and sanitization of more than 240 kilometers of road during the course of more than 14,000 hours on route clearance patrols covering a cumulative distance of more than 300,000 kilometers of road. 

Additionally, the battalion maintained all military bridges north of Baghdad; constructed more than 47 Southwest Asia huts; and constructed more than 24 kilometers of combat trails.
Lt. Col. Joel R. Cross, the commander of the 5th Eng. Bn., thanked Col. Randy L. Fofi., the commander of the 555th Eng. Bde., for his confidence.  Cross indicated that the brigade’s support and the discipline of his team were essential to the overall battalion mission success.
“Thank you for the trust and confidence you gave us,” said Cross.  “Discipline was the foundation of our unit’s success.  Leaders enforced standards and ensured Soldiers were fit in mind, body and spirit.”

This transition of authority ceremony marks the beginning of the 37th Eng. Bn.’s third deployment, making the unit from Fort Bragg, a familiar presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  Lt. Col. Paul Huszar, the commander of the 37th Eng. Bn. – Joint Task Force Eagle,  was here last year as the Brigade S3 of the 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne), which served as the theater engineer brigade prior to the 555th Eng. Bde. assuming that responsibility.  Huszar, who calls Akron, Ohio and Sebring, Fla. his native cities, said his unit is ready to build on the strong Iraqi partnership already established and to take that partnership to the final goal of a successful and independent Iraq.

“Now is not the time for many words, but action,” said Huszar. “We are ready to assist our Iraqi partners.  Our goal is not to do this same ceremony again next year.  Our goal is to complete the mission.”