Stryker Troops Return to Families; Unit Cared for by Rear Detachment

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Sept. 11, 2007 - When the first planeload of soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division's 3rd Stryker Brigade returned here last night after their second deployment to Iraq, they didn't arrive to a darkened, padlocked brigade headquarters. In addition to a gymnasium full of loved ones and well-wishers, the 260 soldiers of 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, were greeted by members of their own unit who had stayed behind to run the rear detachment.

Deploying units leave behind a "Rear D" to provide vital home-station support while they're gone. It maintains unit property and equipment, untangles pay and legal problems that arise during the deployment, and trains replacements being sent to the unit.
"We get assigned soldiers, we train them, we equip them, and then we deploy them to the theater," said Army Maj. Kyle Marsh, who returned in May to take over command of the Arrowhead Brigade's Rear D. "Our charter is to get them to a basic level of capability and proficiency so that downrange they are not going to have to do that. They can get right out and get busy."

But these missions pale when compared to what Marsh called the Rear D's most important callings: taking care of families and honoring the fallen. As the Rear D juggles its myriad missions, Marsh said, it never loses sight of the needs of deployed soldiers' families, particularly families of troops killed.

Since the brigade deployed in June 2006, it's lost 54 soldiers: 47 from the brigade and seven from units attached to it. Twelve died during Marsh's first two weeks on the job as Rear D commander, and he said dealing with casualties never gets easier.

"Casualty operations are our glass ball," Marsh said. "You cannot drop the glass ball. That's the most important job we do."

Marsh is the first to get the call that there has been a casualty, typically from the front and often in the middle of the night. That's terrible for him, he said, but equally painful for his 7-year-old daughter. "She hears the phone ring and knows that it means," he said. "She knew daddy was in Iraq fighting bad guys and that he's back here burying good guys. That's very tough."

When Marsh gets the call, he scrambles the Rear D into action, arranging for the next of kin to be notified and for a casualty support officer to step in to assist the family. Casualty care teams of volunteers from the brigade's family readiness groups offer to come to a family's side immediately, until the official support network takes over.

In addition, Rear D troops provide the rifle teams, buglers and speakers to honor brigade troops at their Fort Lewis memorial services.

During a recent service at the post's main chapel, Marsh eulogized six brigade soldiers killed in Iraq: Staff Sgt. Fernando Santos, and Spcs. Zachariah Gonzalez, Alfred Jairala, Cristian Rojas-Gallego, Eric Salinas and Charles Heinlein Jr.

Marsh honored the fallen troops for putting their country above their own lives and urged those at the service to "pause and pray for the families, for comrades, ... and for healing of this unit and post."

Much of that healing -- which officials here say the entire brigade, including its families, must go through -- begins with the Rear D.

Marsh works hand in hand with Darlene Pacheco, the brigade's family-assistant representative, and Melissa Townsend, wife of the brigade commander, throughout the deployment to ensure families never feel abandoned.

More than half of the brigade's 4,000 soldiers are married, said Townsend, whose husband, Col. Steve Townsend, is still in Iraq. Nearly 2,000 brigade families have remained in the Fort Lewis area during the deployment.

The Rear D team works through family readiness groups to give these families information about the unit and tools to help them cope. They bring in speakers to talk about everything from mental-health issues to self-defense. They steer families in need to resources available to help them. They plan fun activities so families can pass the time together.

"Our team is bringing compassion and support," Townsend said. "We strive to help give them the tools they might need to successfully get through the deployment."

Like Townsend, Pacheco knows what it's like to be the wife left behind during a deployment. Her husband, now retired, deployed throughout his career, giving his wife the personal as well as professional insights she applies every day on the job.

These skills have been particularly valuable helping families cope during a 15-month deployment, Pacheco said. She said a three-month extension announced after the brigade left for Iraq proved to be particularly challenging for families.

Those additional months "are the longest three months of your life, because you hit the wall," Townsend said. "Between month 13 and 14, you start wondering, 'Am I going to push through this or not?'"

"It's like having an elephant on your chest," agreed Pacheco. "You can't breathe because you're so consumed with worry about your loved one."

That's typically when problems arise at home, she said. Cars won't start. Toilets leak. Children start acting out. Anything that can go wrong does.

At each step of the way, the brigade's Rear D and family support network work together to help families through the tough days and steer them toward help they need. Sometimes the most important thing they can offer is a shoulder to cry on and a reassuring hug.

"We have become a family," Pacheco said of the team and the Stryker families.

While Marsh prepares soldiers to go into combat, Pacheco said the brigade's family network ensures their families are ready, too. "Our job is to prepare families and have them battle-ready," she said. "That means providing resources (and) giving them the tools they need to be able to function as a sole parent for a year and a half. And that's a big undertaking."

Townsend admits to being more "hands-on" than the average commander's wife. But as challenging as it may be to work with families throughout a long deployment, it's gratifying as well, she said. "I couldn't see myself doing it any other way," she said, noting that the soldiers' families become her own family while her husband is deployed.

Marsh compared the bonds that form within the Rear D to those that soldiers develop on the battlefield. It's a bond he called critical to the brigade's mission, because it ensures that deployed troops can focus on their mission, and not be distracted by unmet needs at home.

"This dynamic brings the warfighter confidence and stability," he said. "Their mind is so engaged on staying alive that if they had to worry about what goes on back here, they couldn't do their job."

"If things are going OK back here, then he can focus on what he should be focused on," Pacheco agreed. "And that's our job back here: to take care of families, pride them with resources and compassion."

Families Prepare for Stryker Brigade's Homecoming

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Aug. 31, 2007 - There's a sense of giddiness here as families prepare for their "Arrowhead Brigade" Strykers to return home after a 15-month deployment to Iraq. An advance party from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) is slated to arrive at neighboring McChord Air Force Base on Sept. 3, finalizing groundwork for almost 4,000 more troops to fly in beginning Sept. 11.

Jubilant and frequently tearful reunions will play out again and again over the next week to 10 days, as one plane after another touches down to bring the full brigade home.

Melissa Townsend, wife of Col. Steve Townsend, the brigade commander, reports that the families are ready and counting the days.

After a particularly challenging deployment – marred by 54 casualties and the announcement in April of a three-month extension – Townsend said families are on the edge of their seats waiting for the homecoming celebration to begin.

They've painted colorful welcome-home banners to decorate the route between McChord and Fort Lewis, as well as the Sheridan Gym, where families will reunite with their soldiers.

Earlier this week, the brigade's rear detachment and family support network sponsored the last of several redeployment seminars to help prepare families for the adjustments they'll go through during redeployment.

And to make sure its single soldiers feel welcome, too, several of the brigade wives got together last week to make more than 200 beds for troops whose barracks rooms have been vacant for more than a year. After they finished tucking in the corners and smoothing the sheets, the wives assembled care packages of toiletries and goodies to place in each room to greet the returning soldiers.

"You wouldn't think you'd be able to get so excited about making a bed," Townsend said. "But that's because it's tangible. It's an assurance that, yes, they are coming back."

Townsend called the welcome-home preparations a big relief after a long, lonely and, for many families, difficult summer as their loved ones led surge operations in and around Baghdad.

"It's a sign that there's light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "We can actually almost sigh."

Maj. Kyle Marsh, who returned from Iraq in May to serve as the brigade's rear detachment commander, said he's excited about the homecoming that's in store for his fellow Strykers.

As they step off the plane at McChord, the Fort Lewis audiovisual staff will beam live images to the families assembled at the Fort Lewis gym. Meanwhile, audio from the gym will blare over the airfield. "We'll have a camera at the bottom of the stairs and a speaker set up at the airfield so soldiers can hear everything going on at the gym," Marsh said.

The biggest thrill, he said, will be watching the soldiers reunite with their families. "Every soldier will be in tears. I know. I did this. They will be bawling," he said.

Marsh remembered his own experience reuniting with his family. "You come into the gym, you look around and you can't find them. And then you make eye contact," he said. "Your heart is beating a thousand miles an hour. It's absolutely awesome."

The emotion hits everyone who comes to welcome the troops home, said Darlene Pacheco, the brigade's full-time family assistance advisor. "Even if it's not your soldier coming back that day, you get caught up in the excitement," she said.

As the troops return, Fort Lewis is planning its big official homecoming celebration, slated for Oct. 11. That's when the brigade will form up and uncase the unit colors. Afterward, its members will be treated to a big barbecue, courtesy of the local community.

Townsend, the brigade commander, will send invitations to the brigade's wounded troops, recovering here and at other medical facilities around the country. "We've had a lot of wounded, a lot," said Marsh. "And he wants to give them a personal invitation to be a part of the welcome home."

"If the kids at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center in Washington) and amputees at Brooke (Army Medical Center in San Antonio) are ambulatory and able to move, they are going to get an invitation," he said. "We would love to have them there."

Marsh anticipated the emotion that will overcome the brigade when its wounded warriors join the troops they served with in Iraq. After the newly returned soldiers form up on the parade field, the commander of troops will turn around and tell Townsend, "Sir, the command is formed."

Townsend will respond, "No it's not, as we have several of our brothers who need to rejoin our formations."

At that point, the wounded troops will join the formation. "Maybe they'll go out in a wheelchair. Maybe they'll go out in a hospital bed," Marsh said. "The sergeant major said, 'Hey, if I have a kid who can't stand, I'll put him in a chair next to the formation and he can sit there."

"Talk about powerful," Marsh said. "That will be huge."

Family time and reintegrating back into the community will be the big focus for the troops until they take block leave during the holidays, Marsh said. Rear detachment soldiers will take care of the never-ending taskings to give the newly returned troops a chance to rejuvenate.

That's critical, Marsh said, because after they return from block leave, they'll be back to the same demanding training routine they left behind. "Once they come back in January, guess what?" he said. "We're right back at it again, getting ready for the next time we go back to Iraq."