Southern PAO in northern territory

Published Jan. 27, 2014
By Private 1st Class Nancy Mizzell
107th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Some Soldiers shoot to kill and others shoot to tell a story. Through photography, videos and news articles Soldiers of the 107th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment are storytellers. They are currently honing their skills during mobilization training at Joint Base, McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., for their upcoming deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Maj. Reinaldo Montero, commander of the 107th, feels that this mobilization gives his Soldiers a chance to train in a way that they seldom do at the unit's home station in Saint Augustine, Fla.

"Being able to get together and train on the military occupational specialty specific type tasks was essential to us and it will set us up for success," said Montero.

While many unit members have worked seamlessly together through exercises like Vigilant Guard, they each possess varying levels of overseas experience. For some Soldiers, this is their first deployment. A few work for the state of Florida full-time, keeping some skills fresh, whereas others, such as Staff Sgt. Karen Kozub, have gained public affairs experience on a previous deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Kozub, who has a positive take on their time at JB MDL, believes her previous tour has made her better prepared for the current mission.

"We're always training, we're working closer together and we're excited for the new experience," says Kozub.

"On my last deployment, we were all new to the Army and our jobs. It was an incredibly small shop with 3,000 Soldiers to cover. It was my trial by fire, and it introduced me to all different facets of the military that I never would have known about or had the opportunity to interact with, raising my confidence as a writer and my ability to work with different parts of the military.

The 107th has had numerous deployments over the years, including one to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2009 where they facilitated the same mission that is being tasked in 2014. Only two original members of the previous unit remain, but no less experience is present for their journey into a busy and challenging work area.