This article is provided
courtesy of Stars & Stripes, which
got its start as a newspaper for Union troops
during the Civil War, and has been published
continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945
in the Pacific. Stripes reporters have
been in the field with American soldiers,
sailors and airmen in World War II, Korea,
the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia
and Kosovo, and are now on assignment in the
Middle East.
Stars and Stripes has one of the widest distribution
ranges of any newspaper in the world. Between
the Pacific and European editions, Stars
& Stripes services over 50 countries
where there are bases, posts, service members,
ships, or embassies.
Related Links:
Current
Archive
Stars
& Stripes Website
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards
Have an opinion on the issues discussed in
this article? Sound off.
Get
Breaking Military News Alerts
|
|
|
Your service may have earned you great education
benefits. Get over $1000 per month to pay
for your undergraduate, graduate or technical
degree.
Find military-friendly schools today.
|
|
|
|
January 19, 2005
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards.]
By Terry
Boyd,
Stars and Stripes, European edition
BAUMHOLDER, Germany — It’s back to Iraq for America’s
last armored division.
The Wiesbaden-based 1st Armored Division received its “deployment
warning orders” last week, according to soldiers at Baumholder,
home to the division’s 2nd Brigade and its Division Artillery.
Several sources told Stars and Stripes that a call-up could be
imminent. The division could deploy sometime between Nov. 1, 2005,
and mid-January, 2006. In addition, a stop-loss order will go into
effect Aug. 1 for the division, according to sources.
Warning orders are informal notifications alerting personnel they
could be deployed.
“Units were notified; soldiers were notified in order to let
families know” that the 1st AD might deploy to Iraq,
said a 1st AD official who asked not to be identified.
Division officials expect formal deployment orders to come this
week from the Department of Defense, said U.S. Army officials in
Germany. It is possible, though unlikely, units could receive warning
orders, but never deploy.
The orders could affect as many as 10,000 soldiers at 11 1st AD
bases across central Germany.
Most expected the warning order.
“It’s not a big surprise,” said 1st Sgt. Craig Copridge,
with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment at Baumholder.
The deployment to Iraq, if it happens, will be the third for Copridge,
who went in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 as a sergeant and to
Operation
Iraqi Freedom in June 2003.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Copridge said. “I
just became the first sergeant, and taking the company into combat
is always interesting.”
Not everyone shares his enthusiasm.
“Four-two-seven took [the news] hard,” said the wife
of a 4th Battalion, 27th Artillery Regiment noncommissioned officer,
who asked not to be identified. “It was very emotional at the
[Family Readiness Group] meeting,” she said, declining to comment
further.
On April 29, 2003, Company C, 4-27, lost eight men in a car bomb
attack, the single largest loss the division suffered during its
first OIF deployment from April 2003 through July 2004.
Most of the people interviewed by Stars and Stripes rated the Army
as good in keeping soldiers and officers informed about major changes
before they happen.
“It helped people, helped the families to hear [the warning
order] firsthand instead of hearing it on the news,” said Julie
Gowel, whose husband, 1st Lt. Dave Gowel, is executive officer for
Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade. “The Army
is good about telling you what you need to know.”
She added that it was clear the 1st AD was likely to be sent back
to Iraq just because there isn’t enough of the Army to go around.
All of the Army’s 10 active-duty divisions have deployed at
least once to either Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001, as has nearly
every National Guard and Reserve unit. Some units have deployed
twice.
Several soldiers told Stars and Stripes they thought it would be
easier the second time. The 1st AD would return to Iraq with substantial
experience.
“Obviously, we don’t know where we’re going,”
Copridge said. “But based on what we learned that 15 months,
we’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect.”
The division’s area of responsibility covered a huge swath
of Baghdad during most of the first deployment, with soldiers and
officers dividing their time between three main missions —
raids, helping organize local governments and rebuilding efforts.
After the division was extended April 16, some units moved to southern
Iraq, where they helped route Shiite militias after Iraqi security
forces proved ineffectual.
The 1st AD is one of two divisions forward based in Germany. The
other, the 1st Infantry Division based at Würzburg, currently has
most of its units in Iraq, with the bulk of troops slated to return
to Germany after general elections in Iraq, scheduled for Jan. 30.
Coping with long deployments is one of the biggest challenges for
military families.
Gowel said she stayed in Baumholder for the first deployment, but
she plans to return to her family in Boston for what she expects
to be another year apart.
“There’s something to be said for being around people
who’re going through what you’re going through,”
Gowel said of remaining in Baumholder. “It takes away the pity
factor. You can’t go around saying, ‘Oh, woe is me!’
The people around you are all in the same boat.”
Going home won’t be “better or worse, just different,”
she said. “I just don’t want to do the same thing, and
I felt like I missed a lot of stuff — weddings, family and
career opportunities — the first time.”
The old saying among Army families is that it’s easier to
leave than to be left behind, Gowel said. If both leave, maybe it’ll
be a little easier with neither left behind, she added.
Email
this page to friends
©2005 Stars & Stripes. All opinions
expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily
reflect those of Military.com.
|
