Being 7,000 miles away from home and everything familiar presents numerous challenges under the best conditions. Three soldiers with the Louisiana National Guard tell News Ten Anchor Tracy Wirtz that teamwork has helped them meet those challenges.

Each soldier in the 256th Tiger Brigade is trained for a specific job. But what happens when they are asked to adjust their responsibilities to complete the mission?

Sergeant Cameron Temple says, “Improvise and adapt; overcome.”

Sergeants Temple and Murillo and Specialist Cotton turned their training around to fill a need on the radar team.

They explained their job, “13 Foxtrot, we called for fire. 13 Romeos, they tracked the incoming fire that somebody else calls on us.”

Temple and Murillo both ranked up to sergeant during this deployment, and Murillo had to take the reins as leader in a new position. He and his team had to work together to do their job effectively.

“It was us going off the knowledge he had… and figuring the whole thing out that made it happen but I couldn’t have done it without my counterparts,” Temple says.

Soldiers are trained to expect the unexpected and shift accordingly to complete their mission. They are also trained to work together as a complete unit and trust each other’s abilities.

Cotton explains how they adjusted, “Sliding into this job, it’s been a challenge like everything in the army. But I know the guys are on me. Also at our sister base, they’re just a phone call away and I get help right away.”

All three are eager to get home this fall. They said they miss Louisiana cooking and their beds!