Here and then gone...

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And did they arrive…Two planes filled with hundreds of soldiers each arrived 9 minutes apart. Thank goodness the second plane taxied on the runway for a few minutes. Generals were everywhere, some from California, a couple from Kansas and North Dakota even rounded up a few to come and welcome the soldiers home. It’s always nice to be a soldier and to step off the plane and there is a line of high ranking officers and soldiers from your home state to shake your hand and tell you “Welcome Back, thanks for serving your country!”

The buses were standing by and swept the first batch of soldiers off to Camp Atterbury and due to the lack of logistical assets, the second group of 300 hundred soldiers had to just hang around the airport for a couple of hours entertaining themselves with the ever present cards and napping anywhere they can rest their heads.

Because of all the flight delays for the past few days as soon as everybody arrived at the camp, we immediately started the out-processing. They were so tired I was feeling sorry for them. They needed showers and we fed them and then off they were to face the mounds of paperwork. North Dakota, California and Kansas sent technical experts to Camp Atterbury to assist with the necessary requirements.

It really is quite the exercise in patience to go from active duty status back to being a weekend warrior in the National Guard. Between the staff’s from the state and the Camp Atterbury staff, these soldiers get poked and prodded from the Doctors to find out if they have any injuries that occurred in the past 10 months that need to be fixed before being released. The many dental stations are manned by contracted civilians who quickly snap a panoramic view of your teeth and then do a scrape and tap on the teeth to make sure they are still securely fastened in your mouth. It’s amazing how many soldiers come back with less than stellar teeth. Maybe it’s all the candy and junk food we consume or just the simple change of diet that can seem to make the decaying process speed up.

The finance personnel added up all the leave days earned, changed the combat zone status back to regular weekend drill status and any T’s needed crossing or I’s dotted these are the folks who pay attention to the smallest of details. In between all this official work, there are many people who spend time with “you”. The social workers and chaplains spend time with each and every soldiers just to get a feel for how the trip really went for each individual. There are reintegration personnel, representatives from the ESGR (Employer Support to the Guard and Reserve) office, the VA (Veterans Affairs) and many others who really care about the welfare of the soldiers as they begin their re-establishment back into their lives on the homefront.

While the nearly 600 soldiers are going through those motions over a four day period some of us are organizing all the transportation back to their home stations. One chartered plane to North Dakota, one bus to Kansas and nearly 450 individual plane tickets to 7 different states. All to leave within a 24 hour period. So between the administrative side and the logistical side, everybody works together to ensure that the departing soldier is getting good customer service on their way out. Buses left every half hour to an hour for 17 hours in a row to get everybody to the airport and on their way. Nobody forgot any bags in the parking lot. Everybody received their last army lunch in a bag and only two people missed the bus.

As we shook all their hands, gave hugs and waved as they all passed by, I must say that as that last bus departed late in the evening I got a little lump in my throat. We had all spent the last 10 months training together, eating together and living together and some of these soldiers had become a part of my deployment in such a positive way. Many of them had allowed me and Dobie to go out on missions, many had shared quiet moments just walking around the camp, but mostly so many of them had shared their smiles and laughter with me which made this deployment that much better.

I commend the California unit that departed for being such good sports about having to leave the KFOR 12 mission early. These 300 soldiers were the focus of most of the missions I had the opportunity to logistically plan. They traveled the country and used their patrolling expertise to add to the overall peacekeeping mission. The North Dakota unit that were friends from past deployments with whom I will have many days with when we return home to work with and to the small teams of soldiers who have returned to their far away states whom I may never have contact with again in my career. Thanks to all the KFOR 12 soldiers who have left us and always remember…

Kosovo is a better place because of what each of you has left behind…A part of yourself!

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