Reunion of 688 MAC and Co C, 489th ENG BN Members

CO C, 489TH ENG BN was a 12B Combat Engineer unit which is Land Mine Warfare and Explosives. The Battalion was an engineer construction unit until Desert Storm where the main mission objective was changed to a Mechanized Combat Engineer unit. The unit began additional training to incorporate with Active Duty units if deployments were imitated. The training was focused on route clearance and obstacle clearance for routes of military penetration.

In 2003, Co C, 489th ENG BN was deployed to the combat zone of Iraq under OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and was on site in April of 2003 until February of 2004 being stationed at Camp Anaconda, Iraq. Their main mission was assigned to a mobile mine detention system known as the IVMMD (Interim Vehicle Mobile Mine Detector) being the main and only military unit conducting clearance of IED (Improvised Explosive Device) on MSR (Main Supply Route) and ASR (Alternate Supply Route). Co C received a Presidential Citation for that mission objective.

The 489th was later reassigned as the 688th MAC. However, the former Co C was still intact with the home station in Harrison, AR. The unit was deployed a second time under OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM in 2008 with mission assignment as route security for operations outside the military installation of the VBC (Victory Base Complex), the largest military installation in the Iraqi war zone.

The home station in Harrison has been relocated and is now in Springfield, MO.
 

Contact: Thomas Dean Johnson, SFC (E-7) (Ret)
Cell phone: 870-404-6779 email: tdj1954@yahoo.com
Tony Brown, SSG (E-6) (Ret)
Cell Phone: 870-676-9195