Soldiers assigned to 18th Financial Support Center returned home June 23, 2023, after completing a 9-month deployment in the Middle East.

The group, led by director Col. Kevin Pierce and Sgt. Maj. Stephanie Ellis, senior enlisted advisor, 18th FISC, supported U.S. Army Central and the 1st Theater Sustainment Command by providing cash management, internal controls, accounting, automation, and technical oversight for all the Army’s deployed financial management support units and their subordinate detachments operating in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility while they were deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

The Soldiers were welcomed home by Brig. Gen. Eric P. Shirley, commanding general, 1st TSC, who had assumed command of the 18th FISC’s higher headquarters in a ceremony earlier that day.

Shirley spoke of the importance of their recently completed mission and their continuing role in the sustainment mission.

“Remember that [U.S. Central Command] is still an area where our Soldiers are in harm's way each and every day,” explained Shirley.

“The 18th FISC coordinated training with partnering [U.S. Army] Reserve FISCs, from reconciling accounts to clearing unmatched transactions to adjudicating unliquidated obligations. The financial support they provided played a critical role in what we do as sustainment,” he added.

Understanding the assembled Soldiers’ desire to reunite with family and friends after an extended time apart, the new commander acknowledged their service before releasing them to get reacquainted with their loved ones.

“We can go on and on about the team's achievements and their accomplishments, and last month's objectives in CENTCOM, but these warfighters – I am quite certain – are anxious to get back to their families; and we're about to make that happen,” Shirley said.

The 18th FISC, in coordination with United States Army Financial Management Command, Defense Finance and Accounting Services, and as the theater FISC, provides theater-level financial management synchronization through strategic planning, technical guidance and oversight, to support ongoing operations throughout the USCENTCOM area of responsibility. On order, they provide training support to active duty, Army Reserve, and National Guard financial management units in support of readiness toward mobilization and deployment.