[Vision2020] Stryker Soldiers Start Returning to Wainwright

[Chris Storhok]

A few additional notes:

As of today (12/4) about 75% of the 172nd is now home, the rest of the
soldiers should be home by the end of the week.  For those of you who
have relatives or family serving up here, they will be allowed to leave
Forth Wainwright starting the week of December 18th. 

Families and friends have hung banners all over town. Local church
groups have put together welcome home celebrations; Christmas packages;
and fund drives to replace lost personal effects, clothes, furniture and
so forth.  Local police, state troopers, and the MP's have arranged for
rides for soldiers from parties; the city and borough have temporarily
waived license renewals for vehicles; and taxi companies are giving free
rides to soldiers (paid for by other citizens who are just so darn glad
to have our troops home).

Next week some of our troops head back to the Middle East, this time for
service in Afghanistan.  

Tom, thanks again,

Chris 

  
 

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 3:51 PM
To: Vision 2020
Subject: [Vision2020] Stryker Soldiers Start Returning to Wainwright

>From today's (December 4, 2006) Roundup Edition of the Army Times -

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

Stryker soldiers start returning to Wainwright

The Associated Press

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Nearly 1,000 of the 3,800 soldiers of the 172nd
Stryker
Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Wainwright returned from Iraq to
Fairbanks
on Thursday, making it the busiest day for arrivals since the brigade
began
coming home to Alaska last Saturday.
 
Most arrived after dark to Fort Wainwright, but bright lights placed
along
the road inside the front gate illuminated hundreds of welcome home
signs
hung along the fence.

With the arrival of three flights in one day, reunions ran close
together
Thursday.

Karen Lewis thought she was arriving four hours early to meet her
husband,
Pfc. Michael Lewis. But when she arrived, the families and soldiers from
the
first flight were just leaving the building.

Still, she was able to accomplish her goal of securing a front-row seat
so
she could easily spot her husband.

"So we can run to him right away," she said.

At least 15 families from the Lower 48 came to Fairbanks to welcome
their
soldier, said Mary Cheney, a Family Readiness Group leader.

Jan Pichard and her husband planned to travel from Houston to Fairbanks
in
August when the brigade was originally scheduled to return. However, a
last-minute extension kept the soldiers in Iraq another four months.

Pichard said her son, Cpl. Samuel Pichard, 21, surprised her with a
ticket
for a November flight one day when they were instant messaging each
other
over the Internet.

"He asked if I wanted window or aisle," she said. "I said If you're
buying
me a ticket, you can strap me on the wing, I don't care."

She arrived early Thursday with a special request from her son: Shiner
Bock
Beer from Texas.

"He asked for a six-pack of Shiner Bock, but I brought a whole case of
all
kinds," she said, adding that 21 of the 24 bottles made the trek in one
piece.

Even soldiers without families or friends to greet them were thrilled
with
the warm welcome from the crowd.

They were offered a pizza buffet as they got off the buses, and two
limousines were waiting to take them to their rooms.

Walking out of the building, pizza in hand, Spc. Marcus Ham said the
extra
leg room of a limo would be nice, compared to the buses the soldiers
rode
from Eielson Air Force Base to Fort Wainwright.

But once he and his fellow soldiers stepped outside, Ham was wowed by
their
ride.

"Are you kidding me?" he said, climbing inside a Hummer limousine.

"Let me get out again," he said, kissing the snowy ground and looking up
a
the twilight sky. "I haven't been in America in a long time."

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

Party down, Fairbanks.

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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