After the earthquake hit Haiti Jan. 12, Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 21st Signal Brigade had no idea they soon would be key players in relief efforts for that country. Soon after the quake, the Army Signal Activity out of Miami, a subordinate unit of the 56th Signal Battalion, was placed on alert and ordered to provide 24 hour communications support. ASA was not prepared to provide such support and its commander, Maj. Rodriguez, quickly sent a request out for Soldiers to augment his short staff. A total of 30 Soldiers and 3 civilians were pulled from all locations within the brigade, and arrived to offer much needed assistance.

All the participants arrived at Miami by Jan. 23 and immediately started their training and integration in the communications systems and service at ASA. This was done to prepare the force to deploy to Haiti as quickly as possible. “We are doing what we love to do, and the training is pretty good,” explained Staff Sgt. Patrick Murray, a Signal Support Systems Specialist from the 56th Signal Battalion.

This same day and with only 24 hours notice, six Soldiers from ASA were at Homestead Air Force Base ready to take the flight into Haiti to provide technical and tactical support to Joint Task Force Haiti and numerous commanders in the area of operations. Spc. Christopher Ramos, who is a newlywed, attempted to explain to his wife what to expect during the undetermined amount of time he would be absent on this unexpected deployment. Capt. Shawn Goldwire commented that “unfortunately this is a tragedy, but we are ready to help with everything we can,” while he was conducting final preparations to deploy.

The mission is far from over, and now Soldiers are preparing a new rotation to deploy to Haiti to relieve those from ASA who went first. In the mean time, other Soldiers and Civilians were able to return home as the workload began to return to normal. The task force will continue to maintain its world class support to U.S. Army Southern Command. Col. William Churchwell, SOUTHCOM J6, compliments ASA proclaiming, “this command is impressed with the quality of personnel and fast support provided by all the units of 21st Signal Brigade.”