Army recognizes MTMC Reserve unit for award.

Army Reserve Maj. Sam Houston likes to give credit to others. Houston, a member of the 1190th Deployment Support Brigade, recently led a team in the highly successful load out of a 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, task force from Fort Hood, Texas, to the National Training Center, at Fort Irwin, Calif.

With the assistance of the Baton Rouge, La., Army Reserve unit, the task force left in three days--cutting the normal loadout time of six days.

Houston credits the improved loadout times with the installation's new 12 ramp railroad car loading area and the highly accurate rail loading plans developed by the post's movement control officer, Gladys Yoshinaka.

Now, the U.S. Army has recognized the work performed by Houston and the seven-member team from his unit.

The 1190th was cited as a recipient of a 2002 Deployment Excellence Award winner in the category of Supporting Unit-Army Reserve.

Col. Ellen Greene, Commander, led a three-member delegation to receive the award in a Crystal City, Va., ceremony Aug. 28. The presentation was made by Gen. John Keane, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army; and Lt. Gen. Charles Mahan Jr., Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4.

"Wonderful," said Greene. "This puts the deployment support brigade name on the map. This is excellent marketing and visibility for the type of work we can provide deploying units."

News of the award recognition has already spurred calls from warfighter units seeking deployment support, she said.

"The brigade has received calls from power projection forts who want to know how we can assist them with future deployments," said Greene.

During the loading operation Jan. 20-Feb. 8, the Army Reserve team was responsible for the documentation of 2,500 vehicles that were part of a task force that included one tank, two mechanized infantry and one air defense artillery battalions.

Houston is currently on duty as an assistant professor of military science at Providence College, Providence, R.I. The team's other members included: Capt. Humberto Alexander, Capt. Clifton Alford, 2nd Lt. David Mackintosh, Staff Sgt. Daniel Guient, Sgt. Karen Butler and Spc. Simiel Chenault. Lt. Col. Ford McGuffey served as home station liaison.

The 100-member unit primarily assists in rail moves. Recently, the unit has assisted in an increasing number of air moves.

The 1190th has two sister units: the 1179th Deployment Support Brigade, Fort Hamilton, N.Y.; and the 1394th Deployment Support Brigade, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The award package was developed by Maj. Eric Evans, the unit's Assistant Chief of Operations.

"I was an evaluator in the awards entry last year," said Evans, an Army Guard-Reserve Officer. "That helped me develop a winning entry. I looked at the photographs that unit members brought back and was able to put their entire process into a written form."

How good was the award recommendation?

"I knew we were going to win," said Evans.

Nine other Army, National Guard or Army Reserve units received the awards. The awards were created in 2000 to recognize excellence in deployment operations.