Lt. Col von Arnswaldt Set To Return Early Next Year

Middlebrook, VA – Earlier this week we heard about Army Lt. Col Ernst von Arnswaldt, formerly of Bath County and currently a resident of Augusta County Virginia. While he completes a tour of duty in Iraq, his wife Kelli and two girls, Isabell and Layla await his return on the family’s small farm in Middlebrook, Virginia.
Lt.Col von Arnswaldt did his premobilization training in Fort Bliss, Texas from the end of January to the middle of March this year before starting his deployment in Iraq at the end of March.

“I’m with the 77th Sustainment Brigade, which is based out of Fort Dix, NJ,” he says. “We’re in charge of logistics management; what that means we supply everything that the soldiers and civilians and contractors that are supporting the military over here use in their daily lives.”

Lt. Col. Von Arnswaldt describes the mission of his unit.

“The Operation New Dawn which we’re currently conducting here in Iraq, it’s slated to end by December 31st of this year,” he says. “Part of the program of Operation New Dawn is the shutdown of the military bases here in the country; that can’t occur all at once. So the concept of operation is that the military operations are closing down from the north towards the south. So later on, this autumn, the base I’m on will be closing.”

In addition to the job of organizing and carrying out the shutdown of bases in Iraq, his unit is also involved in supplying all US personnel in Iraq with the materials they need to carry out their duties. This includes transporting and distributing food, water, ammunition and other necessities.

“Fuel is very, very big; we use millions and millions of gallons of jet fuel, diesel and gasoline throughout the country each day,” he says. “We’re in charge of coordinating the delivery and maintaining the proper stocks of fuel at all the military bases.”

When his unit’s tour of duty ends in January of 2012 Lt.Col von Arnswaldt is looking forward to returning to Virginia and getting back to work at home.

“I’ve been involved passionately in the building business in my civilian career and I truly love that,” he says. “I see me acting out on that passion and continuing to be a builder in Augusta County. And my lifelong passion in farming; you can take the farm boy off the farm, but it’s hard to take the love for farming out of him. I truly would be the happiest guy in the world if I could be together with my wife and my girls on my farm in Middlebrook raising cattle in the future.”

All of us at Allegheny Mountain Radio wish Lt. Col. Von Arnswaldt success in the completion of his mission in Iraq and a safe return to his family in Augusta County.