Jan 29 2009
News
Thousands reunite after Fort Carson unit’s tough tour in Iraq
Another long wait is ending for thousands of families.
Two hundred soldiers from Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team came home to cheering crowds Wednesday morning, and they’ll be followed in coming weeks by 3,500 of their comrades who are wrapping up a grueling 15-month deployment in Iraq.
The soldiers marched into the gymnasium where their loved ones waited to the strains of “The Angry American,” the same Toby Keith tune the post has used to welcome home returning troops since the beginning of the Iraq war.
“It’s a miracle,” Wendy Farrington said minutes before getting the first glimpse of her husband, Staff Sgt. Christopher Farrington. “I felt this day would never come.”
Soldiers, tired from a daylong transcontinental flight, were just as jubilant.
“It’s indescribable,” said Sgt. 1st Class Roy Crow.
The brigade is finishing its third Iraq deployment since the 2003 invasion. This time, its soldiers served in Baghdad and Mosul and endured months of combat with insurgents before a relative calm settled in last summer. Fighting included an epic struggle with Shiite radicals in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum last spring, possibly the fiercest battle of the nearly six-year war.
“It was the hardest deployment I’ve ever done,” said three-tour veteran 1st Sgt. David
Gonzalez.
While not trying to dampen the joy of reunited families, officials at the post are also working to deal with problems they know lie ahead.
The three deployments mean that many of the brigade’s soldiers have hardly seen their families since 2003. And the Army has learned during the war that some soldiers affected by its brutality come home suffering from mental illnesses that often remain hidden.
Every one of the brigade’s soldiers will undergo a mandatory course on dealing with the task of rebuilding family ties, and spouses are being offered classes on how war can affect a soldier’s mind.
Nate Nugin, who oversees the training program for Army Community Services, said getting spouses involved is key to connecting soldiers and families with the help they need to adjust to life away from war.
“They are critical,” Nugin said. “We make it clear to them how important they are in the process.”
So far, spouses of the brigade’s soldiers have shown a strong interest, Nugin said.
Leaders are hoping soldiers are receptive, too.
Keenly aware of past problems with soldiers who have returned from Iraq only to struggle with readjustment at home, the brass is emphasizing that troops who need help will get it. Leaders are also trying to eliminate the stigma they admit was associated with troops who seek counseling for mental illness or family problems.
“The message coming down is there will be no repercussions or reprisals for soldiers seeking help,” Nugin said.
But the worries are in the future. For reunited families, it’s time for celebration.
And with the Iraq war winding down, it may be time to look forward to a long stay at home.
“I hope so,” said Shelby Obermuller, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Jason Obermuller, came home from Baghdad. “We know we at least have a year.”