Ladder 95 Firefighter Kyle Surridge was deployed to Southwest Asia. The exact location of Kyle and his unit are not yet known. Kyle's been a member of Ladder 95 for 10 years. The members of Ladder 95 support Kyle and all of our troops. We wish LT Surridge and all of his unit a safe return home, we will be thinking of him daily.

Below is an article that Kyle was interviewed for before his deployment.  The new paper is called The Monitor, it is a base newspaper:

5-52 continues to deploy


 

Capt. Tamara Gonzales

11th ADA Bde. Public Affairs


 

The 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery, has had an extremely hectic schedule of deploying its batteries to Southwest Asia. The unit started deploying between October and November and continues with a majority of its B Battery Soldiers having deployed June 16 through 21.


 

The mission of 5-52 ADA is to protect assigned assets and maintain a site in the Central Command area of operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Since its first mission, the battalion has deployed its Headquarters and Headquarters Btry., C and D batteries, and F Company. F Co. supports the battalion through its maintenance operations. C and D batteries are two of the battalion’s Patriot units, while HHB provides command and support.


 

The movement requires countless hours of planning and execution, and maintenance and logistical support. The battalion’s batteries that had not yet deployed, and 3rd Bn., 43rd ADA, have supported the deploying element and its Soldiers through every step of the process.  This was necessary to ensure successful accomplishment of the mission and a swift deployment to the CENTCOM AOR.


 

“The movement is going well at the [Departure/Arrival Airfield Control Group Facility]; the operators and maintainers know what they’re doing,” said 1st Lt. Kyle Surridge, the fire-control platoon leader for 5-52 ADA B Btry. “The personnel at the DAACG support us with whatever we need.”


 

The deployment of equipment begins before MPA operations, where maintenance technicians inspect equipment and vehicles for operation before shipment.  After the MPA operations process, the equipment is moved to the DAACG or the rail head for sending downrange. All of these movements take planning, coordination and extraneous efforts from the deploying unit and the supporting element’s Soldiers and leaders.


 

“From MPA operations, to rail load to air load, the Soldiers know what they are doing,” said Surridge.