In late 2007, the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion was tasked with assembling a company of Soldiers to meet a deployment requirement to execute Civil Military Operations (CMO) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). By early 2008, a company of volunteer Soldiers stood ready to deploy to Iraq. In August of 2008, the company deployed under a Derivative Unit Identification Code (DUIC) as a detachme
nt of B Company, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion. Upon completion of the OIF 08-09 deployment in August of 2009, the company returned to home station and resumed training for future tasking. In October of 2009 under a new Modified Table of Organization & Equipment (MTO&E)/Unit Manning Document (UMD) change, the company officially stood up as C Company, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion with LTC Lloyd and 1SG Sanchez as the Commander and First Sergeant. Due to his promotion, LTC Lloyd was reassigned to the Brigade as the Chief of Civil Information Management (CIM) team. CPT Charles Fontenot assumed command and along with 1SG Sanchez, continued training the company in preparation for future tasking. That tasking came in mid-2010 when C Company was flagged to deploy to Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). CPT Fontenot and 1SG Sanchez began actively recruiting and organizing their battle roster to meet the CJTF-HOA requirements filling the battle roster quickly with volunteers from sister companies and other units. In November of 2011, C Company began the mobilization process and set foot on ground in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti in December of 2011. C Company currently has teams deployed to countries within the continent of Africa conducting operations in support of CJTF-HOA CMO mission objectives. Currently, C Company is commanded by MAJ Timothy McKinnon who replaced CPT Fontenot due to the need for a Civil Affairs team leader.
