May 07 2009
Soldiers excited, apprehensive about move to Fort Carson
FORT HOOD, Texas • Scores of soldiers Tuesday crowded around tables piled with literature extolling the virtues of the Pikes Peak region at the start of a week long event to introduce them to their new home.
The 2,000 or so troops who will attend the Mountain Post Welcome are the first of 6,500 soldiers who will move to Fort Carson this summer. The initial group at a Fort Hood conference center showed excitement, anxiety and even resentment and anger over the move.
“There are three groups,” explained Mike Stevens as he helped patrol a Better Business Bureau booth. “The first group doesn’t want to go. The second group is excited about going. The third group is scared and unsure. That’s the biggest group.”
The Army started planning to move the 4th Infantry Division’s headquarters and its 1st Brigade Combat Team from Texas to Colorado in 2005. In a few weeks, those soldiers and their families will start moving at a rate that could top 100 per day through the summer.
Colorado Springs businesses, beset by the sagging economy, are drooling over their arrival. City leaders are planning a massive parade downtown in August to welcome the newcomers.
But on the ground in Texas, the warm feelings of Colorado Springs seemed to be doing little to offset the stress of packing for the unknown.
“You don’t want to talk to me,” said Dina Garza as she and her husband, Staff Sgt. Billy Garza, toured booths about schools and real estate. “I don’t want to go.”
Lifelong Texans, the Garzas have family in San Antonio who will be 800 miles farther away when they move to Colorado.
And while folks at Fort Hood didn’t seem to mind the sticky humidity that hung there Tuesday, many picture Colorado Springs as the Ice Age.
“I’m terrified of snow,” Dina Garza said.
The welcome event is designed to calm fears of the Colorado-bound soldiers by providing information about the community they’ll be joining.
“A lot of the younger soldiers have never (moved) before,” said Maj. Michele Thompson, who coordinated the event. “It’s stressful.”
One of the bigger worries for the troops is where to enroll their children in school. Killeen, Texas, the town next to Fort Hood, has a single school district.
“One of the things that surprises them is choice,” said Elaine Naleski, a Colorado Springs School District 11 spokeswoman who spent the day explaining the dizzying array of public, private and charter schools.
The families also wanted to know about the mountains. Fort Hood is near rolling hills, but the biggest visual feature in all directions is the horizon.
The community here is centered around Fort Hood, which is home to more than 30,0000 soldiers.
“It will be nice to be in a real city for a change,” said Capt. Lara Chapman, who has visited Colorado and said she couldn’t be happier about the move.
The biggest advantage of Colorado Springs is the opportunities – from shopping to recreation – it will give soldiers’ families, said 1st Sgt. Donald Kenney.
Happier families, he said, will mean soldiers who are better at their jobs.
EVENT DETAILS
The welcome event at Fort Hood in Texas was designed to calm fears of the Colorado-bound soldiers by providing information about the community they’ll be joining.
TOM ROEDER
THE GAZETTE