[Vision2020] Army Sets Up Aid Centers; Families Alter Plans, Seek Refunds

[Chris Storhok]

Thanks Tom,

The 172nd is now in Bagdad and fully operational (for those of you who
serve(d) as Logistics Quartermasters damn fine work! The equipment of
the 172nd went from being fully loaded and ready for shipment back to AK
(or given away to other units) to back to the field, reassembled, and
issued within a week. I am impressed) 

Here is a piece from Sunday's Fairbanks Daily News Miner:

Betrayed spouses and soldiers were told a yearlong deployment
By Tamara Bell
Published August 6, 2006
Posted in Opinion

I am writing today as a concerned wife regarding the extension of the
172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team's tour in Iraq.

Four days ago my husband, Staff Sgt. Edward Bell, was due to be arriving
home after a yearlong deployment. Four days ago my husband would have
held his 8-month-old son, who he's only seen once before. Four days ago
would have been the finish line in our yearlong marathon. Four days ago
I would have gotten the hugs and kisses from my husband that I've missed
all year long. Four days ago my life would've been filled with joy.

Four days ago. 

Now we have no clue other than we have been told that it is all "event"
driven. Not that it will be 30 days, not 90 days, or 120 days. Our
spouses, our soldiers will not be home until whatever event needs to
happen.

I'm an older military wife. My husband has been in the Army for 12
years. My father was Navy and retired after 24 years. My father was gone
from about the time I was 4 all the way up to about 11 years old serving
in the military. My husband has been gone for roughly five years of our
marriage. I'm used to the man in my life being gone. I'm used to
celebrating Christmas or Thanksgiving or birthdays by myself. I'm used
to plans changing because of an extension. I've seen it countless times
with both my husband and my father. 

What I'm not used to is the same military preparing to send a soldier
and his comrades home, sending their equipment that keeps them safe
home, sending soldiers home and then suddenly deciding that the troops
should stay at the very last minute. 

I'm not used to getting my hopes up as I approach the week of my
beloved's return and then getting them smashed by the country that my
husband and I and now my son, support. I'm not used to the country that
I'm proud of betraying our trust. We were told a yearlong deployment.
Not longer. Not a period to be determined on the course of certain
events. We were told one full year. All of us wives were counting on
this day when we said goodbye to our husbands a year ago. We marked it
on our calendars and said that "this" is the day that our loved ones
will return because of course the military said it was so. We had
reached the finish line. We were all giving our last bit of energy, one
last sprint to reach it after our yearlong marathon. We were sprinting
to the end, and now that finish line has been ripped away from us.
Understandably we're tired, we're exhausted, we're overwhelmed. We're
depressed and we're ready for it to be over. 

I've read it in numerous places that morale is high because the soldiers
and their families are so proud that they've been selected for this
important mission because they are so good at their jobs. Honestly, I
don't know who these people have been talking to. Yes we are proud that
our soldiers are good at their job, but are we happy, are our soldiers
happy that they have been chosen? No, they are not and we are not. They
were ready to come home and we were ready to have them come home. They
finished their job; please now just let them come home.

Tamara Bell and her husband lived at Fort Richardson in Anchorage prior
to the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team's deployment to Iraq. She
recently moved to Fairbanks and bought a house in preparation for her
husband's return to Alaska and his stationing at Fort Wainwright.

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 10:47 AM
To: Joan Opyr; 'Moscow Vision 2020'
Subject: [Vision2020] Army Sets Up Aid Centers;Families Alter Plans,
Seek Refunds

>From the August 14, 200s edition of the Army Times -

The primary reason for my posting this article, and any future article
concerning the 172nd Stryker Brigade, is the close ties that one of our
own
V2020 subscribers has with the 172nd Stryker Brigade and Fort
Wainwright,
Alaska.

For you and yours, Mr. Strohok.

---------------------------------------------------------

Army sets up aid centers; families alter plans, seek refunds 

By Michelle Tan
Staff writer

The Army has set up family assistance centers at Alaska's Fort
Wainwright
and Fort Richardson to help families of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat
Team cope with their soldiers' extended deployment in Iraq.

The centers are open seven days a week to deal with problems ranging
from
financial difficulties and child care to legal issues and housing and
transportation concerns, said Maj. Kirk Gohlke, a spokesman for U.S.
Army
Alaska. 

Most of the 172nd is from Fort Wainwright.

The Army also is sending to Alaska staff with expertise in areas such as
personnel, logistics and budget to help with the extension, Gohlke said.
 
"Everybody's just bending over backwards to help us sort through these
extension-related issues," he said.

But not everyone is happy.

The soldiers of the 172nd were extended just days before they were
scheduled
to redeploy to Alaska. About 400 soldiers from the brigade had already
returned to Fort Wainwright after spending a year in Mosul, Iraq. The
extension, approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and announced
July
27, is for up to 120 days.

Because the soldiers were so close to coming home, many families had
travel
plans that now have to be rescheduled or canceled. In the week after the
extension announcement, online chat boards buzzed with stories from
family
members who battled with airlines and travel agencies for refunds.

Carol Ernst of Centennial, Colo., had planned to fly to Fairbanks to
welcome
home her nephew.

Ernst, who declined to provide her nephew's name for publication but
said
that he's an officer, got a refund for her plane ticket after several
terse
conversations with airline employees.

"The first lady I talked to said it was nonrefundable," Ernst said. "I
said,
'What would your policy be if my soldier didn't come back?' She said,
and
this is a direct quote, I wrote it down, I almost fell out of my chair,
'Well, it's a nonrefundable ticket.' I felt like I had been punched in
the
stomach."

Sheryl Sheaffer of Sammamish, Wash., also had to fight for a refund. Her
son, Spc. Adam Sheaffer, 22, a medic with the 172nd, had planned to
spend
his 30-day leave at home in Washington state. He also planned to fly to
Los
Angeles to see his girlfriend and then to Washington, D.C., to visit his
brother, Scott.

Sgt. Scott Sheaffer, 24, returned July 24 after a year in Baghdad with
the
10th Mountain Division. The brothers haven't seen each other since
crossing
paths briefly in Kuwait last year.

After speaking to the airline on the phone without success, Sheryl
Sheaffer
went to the airline's office at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
armed
with a letter from Col. Robert Ball, deputy commander of U.S. Army
Alaska,
asking for consideration from airlines and travel agencies to reimburse
or
change families' travel plans.

"The lady there gave me a refund," Sheryl Sheaffer said. "I thanked her
profusely [because] I was ready for a fight."

The Sheaffer family will celebrate Scott Sheaffer's homecoming on Sept.
9.
It was supposed to be a double welcome-home party.

"It just feels so strange to me that we've been planning this welcome
home
for both boys and only one will be here for it," Sheryl Sheaffer said.

But the family's plans for a double homecoming could still come true.
Sheaffer's youngest son Dylan, 22, is a specialist with 10th Mountain
Division. He's in Afghanistan and is expected home in early 2007.

"We have a family lottery right now going to see who'll come home
first,"
she said about her two younger sons. "To be perfectly honest, this mom
is
ready for them to come home."

Kim White's son, Spc. Jacob White, 24, will have to postpone even longer
his
long-awaited wedding reception and all the travel plans he had with his
new
wife.

Jacob and Jamie White got married in Las Vegas two years ago, and her
mother
was planning a wedding reception after the soldier got home, Kim White
said,
adding that many families were upset by the short notice given to the
soldiers about the extension. Her son was waiting for his flight to
Kuwait
when he found out.

"I was very mad. Not surprised, because I was a military brat. In the
military, you never write anything in ink but in pencil," she said. "It
was
the way it was done. It was really maddening the way it was done. It was
a
pretty devastating blow to everybody." 

Families who need help getting refunds for travel plans or with other
problems should visit or call the family assistance centers at: n Fort
Wainwright: (907) 353-4458 or (800) 352-9013. n Fort Richardson: (907)
384-1517 or (800) 984-1517.

---------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.


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