by Ellen Shuster

On Friday, Oct. 17, the 612 Engineer Detachment out of Duluth returned from a 10- month deployment in the Middle East. Included among the number was Cook’s SSG David Shuster. The unit mobilized the first week of January and landed in Kuwait a few weeks later after completing training at Ft. Bliss in Texas. With the motto “Lumberjacks lead the way” and lead by CPT Kreutzfeldt, the Detachment safely completed multiple projects across Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait.

“Our team completed one-third of the Task Force’s total engineering missions across the CENTCOM area and earned recognition from General Kurilla and Admiral Cooper for outstanding performances and dedication,” reported Kreutzfeldt.

On Sunday, Oct. 12, the Detachment landed back at Ft. Bliss for medical and administrative out processing. On Friday, they were dismissed and began traveling back to their families. This became one of the most difficult missions of the deployment as delayed flights, mechanical errors, missed connections, changed gates, and even a ground collision between two planes sent many soldiers scrambling to find a way home. SSG Shuster was one of those, as his delayed flight caused him to miss his connection to Duluth. After trying standby, he was able to find an open flight to Minneapolis and with another soldier flew there where he was picked up by his wife. They then drove to Duluth to drop off his fellow soldier and pick up his bags which had arrived before him, despite the delays. There he was reunited with his whole family and finally able to go home.