Fort Campbell troops come home early

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — For once, the troops got to come home early.

Soldiers with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division arrived home Thursday and Friday, six weeks ahead of schedule. Their 15-month deployment was cut short amid improving security in Iraq, allowing the troops to be home for the holidays.

"There he is! There’s my baby! See him?" exclaimed Lyquetta Gilbert when she saw her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Reginald Gilbert.

The returning soldier beamed as he held his son on one arm and two of his daughters on the other. Later, he wiped a tear off his eldest daughter’s eye as she gave him a hug.

Amid the joyful reunion, the tension seemed to drain from his wife’s face.

"It feels great," she said. "It feels normal. It’s what I’ve been waiting on [for] 13 months."

During the brigade’s deployment to northwest Baghdad, attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqis have dropped from between eight and nine a day to about two per day, said brigade spokesman Lt. Col. Frank Garcia.

The drop in violence is due in large part to the brigade’s close partnership with "Sons of Iraq" — mostly former Sunni insurgents now allied with the U.S. military against al-Qaida — and regular Iraqi troops and police, Garcia said.

The unanswered question is whether the relative stability in Iraq will hold.

"Can I predict what’s going to happen in the next few months? Not really," Garcia said.

In stark contrast to the joyful atmosphere surrounding the welcome-home ceremonies, two flat screens inside the hangar where families were waiting displayed phone numbers for marriage counseling and other forms of help should their loved-ones have problems after coming home.

Troops returning from downrange go through a seven-day reintegration course, said Ola Fort, a social worker who is part of adult behavioral health program for soldiers at Fort Campbell.

At welcome-home ceremonies, Fort gives families a brief speech letting them know it is okay for them to seek help if their soldiers, their children or their relationship is having problems.

She acknowledged that by the time she speaks, the families are anxious to get home.

"Some people hear you and some don’t," Fort said.

For Spc. Patrick Gamm, coming home meant he could hold his daughter for the first time since he was home for her birth in July.

"I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time," he said, adding it felt "almost surreal."

Angelia Phillips went to greet returning troops Thursday even though her son, Spc. Michael Phillips, was not on the plane. He was killed in action on Feb. 24.

Since then, she and the 28 soldiers in her son’s platoon have become a family, she said.

"I’m glad they’re safe and home, and they get to hug their families, and a piece of my son is walking off that plane with every single one of those men," Phillips said.

By Jeff Schogol
Stars and Stripes
November 16, 2008