Photo by Adriana Salas Capt. Christopher Wenner, left, holds the company guidon as 1st Sgt. Aaron Partridge unfurls the colors during the Uncasing Ceremony for the 573rd Clearance Company at White Sands Missile Range Aug. 6.

White Sands Missile Range community members gathered at Volunteer Park Aug. 6 to formally welcome the Soldiers of the 573rd Clearance Company during an uncasing ceremony.

“I know I speak for all of you when I say we are very, very proud of our company,” said WSMR Commander Brig. Gen. John Regan during the ceremony. “We are very proud that our history now includes you,” Regan said. “Our country is fortunate that you have chosen to serve.”

The uncasing of the colors is meant to signify a successful mission. The colors are cased before deployment, uncased when arriving at the tour site, then cased again when the tour ends, not to be uncased until they return home. The colors themselves symbolize the strength and accomplishments of the company and represent the “very soul” of the unit having traveled along with the company throughout every tour.

New Staff Judge Advocate joins community

Photo by Adriana Salas Lt. Col. James Dorn

The JAG office welcomed Lt. Col. James Dorn as the new Staff Judge Advocate at White Sands Missile Range July 15 during a Change of Command ceremony here.

Dorn will take over as Staff Judge Advocate for the next two years. Dorn, who recently returned from a thirteen month tour in Afghanistan, said he prefers this much nicer desert over Afghanistan. He said he will keep the office running as is since it has been very successful with the current procedures in place.

“Fortunately my predecessor did a good job with the place, I plan to run (JAG) like the fine tuned machine that it is,” Dorn said.

Dorn said he will keep a major focus on customer service in the aspect of legal assistance and claims for dependent Soldiers and family members.


Aug 11, 2010, 06:22 pm

More homes scheduled to be demolished
White Sands Missile Range leaders announced plans to demolish excess homes on post during the Aug. 4 resident Garrison Town Hall meeting.

The meeting was made up of an extended question and answer session regarding various programs. One of the major changes is the revision of on post housing requirements expected to take place later this year.

Many of the older homes on WSMR were originally scheduled for demolition, however following the announcement that an engineer battalion and brigade combat team were to be stationed on WSMR the decision was made to keep most of the older homes to ensure that there would be enough housing for the incoming Soldiers.
Aug 11, 2010, 06:24 pm

Train up on how to respond to an active shooter
White Sands Missile Range Police and Security forces are encouraging the workforce to train up in how they would respond to an active shooter as part of anti-terrorism awareness month.

In light of recent events elsewhere in the country, WSMR leadership is encouraging all WSMR organizations to develop a plan and train for an active shooter scenario in their building.

Active shooters have become a more common kind of terror attack in recent years, and police are now trained to respond to such a scenario. “We always have a certain level of training we need to do and we’ve already trained our officers on how to respond to an active shooter,” said Michael Kandoll, WSMR’s chief of police. It is important that employees know how to react as well, as an attack can begin before police arrive.
Aug 11, 2010, 06:28 pm