A day closer to home, a job still to do

January 19, 2005

I heard variations of the statement “I just want to get home” 27 times today.

And it’s not even dinner time yet.

The fact is, we’re getting close to going home. This time last year, everyone was moving from Fort Hood, Texas, to Fort Polk, La., for their last phase of training before deployment.

Now, everyone is preparing to move home, take off their desert uniforms and try to fit back into the civilian lives they left behind more than 15 months ago.

I walked into Lt. Col. Kirk VanPelt’s office at Camp Gunslinger today and found him packing boxes. That’s a good sign around here.

He carefully packed piles of cards and hand-colored notes addressed to “Daddy” in sealed Baggies and placed them in a box to be shipped home. They’re keepers, notes from home that are not to be forgotten.

At Charlie Company, Sgt. 1st Class Danny Gifford — acting first sergeant and full-time pack rat — is beginning to clear the “pantry,” the shelves of soap, toothpaste, office supplies and food he keeps for soldiers to use.

Lines at the post office are growing.

Clutter in rooms is shrinking.

It must be getting close to time for us to go home.

Sgt. Paul Bunn, interpreter coordinator for 3rd Battalion of Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade, is slightly torn. He wants to go home, is as ready as the next guy.

But he worries about the interpreters he’ll leave behind. Who will take care of them, he wonders. Three have been assassinated while he’s been here. A fourth is missing and believed beheaded.

He worries who will be next.

And he worries about who will take his place as their advocate.

Soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division will soon arrive as the 39th prepares to leave, just as the 39th took the place of the 1st Armored Division.

The timing of the rotation, of course, remains classified.

But we know when we got here last spring. And with the Army rotation plan of one year boots on the ground, spring is around the corner.

I can see that time will move quickly.

But it’s not over.

Every day since I’ve been back here, no fewer than three soldiers have talked about the men from 3rd Battalion’s Bravo Company who died while I was gone.

Each platoon carries a body bag, a grim reminder of where we are and of how many men have been lost to bombs, bullets and mortars.

It’s time to pack and prepare for the journey home, but the job hasn’t changed.

Patrols continue, soldiers grieve for their buddies and every day survived over here is one day closer to home.

Posted by Amy at January 19, 2005 06:38 AM