Last week at Ft. Lewis, Max had a rehearsal for his unit's welcome home/change of command/awards ceremony. He said we should "come by and check it out," and asked if I could bring some paperwork he had forgotten that morning. So, my friend Kristin and I did...we didn't know it would be a 2 hour rehearsal...at which there were no other civilians.

There were several soldiers in uniform standing near us watching the soldiers practice what would be a major event the next day. We befriended one of them who was standing near us after we asked him how long he thought the rehearsal would last. This, of course, began a whole series of other questions we had about what we were watching...all of which he politely answered.

We didn't know anything about him other than his last name, "Brown," which was on his uniform.

I explained, as the rehearsal was wrapping up, that I had to give my husband some papers he asked me to bring. He asked who my husband was and when I told him, he said Max was his Company Commander. We all had formally introduced ourselves by now.

When Kristin and I saw Max after the rehearsal, we told him that we met Jarrett Brown. Max smiled and said, "Staff Sergeant Brown, he's in my company; he's receiving a Silver Star tomorrow."

A Silver Star is the 3rd highest military decoration there is - The Silver Star is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. Army, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

We stood with Jarrett Brown for a while at that rehearsal and he didn't mention a thing about his award...even when we asked him what kinds of things would take place during the actual ceremony.

Needless to say, at the event the next day, Kristin and I found him and congratulated him. We even forced him to take a picture with each of us. His family wasn't able to be there for his big day so we felt like we needed to be those embarrassing family members who don't stop taking pictures.

Staff Sergeant Jarrett Brown received the Silver Star for heroic action last August in a firefight in Afghanistan. As he was awarded his medal, his acts of heroism were explained in detail. You can't begin to imagine all that this brave man did.

I feel privileged to know him.

An evening at the ball

5th Brigade welcomed home
Military: Unit by unit, 4,000 soldiers make return to base
CHRISTIAN HILL; Staff writer; The Olympian; Published July 23, 2010

Joint Base Lewis-McChord - On his 26th birthday, Spc. Benjamin Breckheimer had another reason to celebrate. He was among the hundreds who gathered Thursday morning to welcome home his Stryker unit, the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, after a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.

The brigade’s 4,000 soldiers started trickling home, plane by plane, several weeks ago, but this was the first time they were all safely back home together.

Breckheimer wore a metal frame on his shattered right leg.

“It’s good to see these guys,” said the cavalry scout from Wisconsin, who had both legs injured in a roadside bomb explosion two months into his tour. “I’ve been separated from them for the last 10 months. I was the last in my troop to get hurt, and I’m happy for that, that no one else got hurt, because it’s really hard.”

His brigade was the first of the Army’s seven Stryker units to deploy to Afghanistan. It had been slated to go to Iraq, but received new orders late in its training to be part of the buildup of additional troops as violence was increasing in Afghanistan.

Two other local brigades, the 3rd and 4th Stryker teams, were sent to Iraq last summer, which means two more major homecoming ceremonies will follow in the next several weeks as Lewis-McChord refills with soldiers and their families.

Col. Harry Tunnell IV, who commanded the 5th brigade, praised his soldiers’ performance in taking the fight to the Taliban and improving security for the civilian population across five southern Afghanistan provinces.

“We lived up to our motto to strike and destroy our nation’s enemy to the American people in response to the contemptible attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” Tunnell told the soldiers standing in formation on the main parade ground.

It proved a difficult adjustment and tough mission. Thirty-seven soldiers died during the deployment, and 239 others were wounded.

Tunnell said before the ceremony that most of the casualties were absorbed as the brigade went into areas “infested with Taliban” that had not seen a large coalition force to that point. He said security stabilized as his troops better understood the environment, including its language and culture, and gathered good intelligence on the enemy.

Staff Sgt. David Thornton, a 28-year-old combat engineer, said the deployment was much more difficult than his tour in Iraq. His job was to clear roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices. In Iraq, he focused on roads, but he said the presence of the enemy and IEDS was more pervasive this time.

“In Afghanistan, you never know what you’re going to get,” he said after the ceremony. “The terrain was a lot worse. Our equipment was never designed for that type of terrain. The Stryker (vehicle) does great on that terrain, but it can’t handle IEDS like the MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles) can, in my opinion.”


During the ceremony, applause followed wounded soldiers as they rejoined their comrades with the aid of wheelchairs, crutches, canes and prostheses. Some soldiers were flown in from Walter Reed and Brooke army medical centers, where they continue to receive treatment. More than 90 injured soldiers attended the ceremony.

Family members of the fallen soldiers also were recognized in remarks by commanders and applause by the audience.

A brigade soldier received the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest honor for valor in combat. Sgt. Jarrett Brown, an assistant gunner, was recognized for his actions when his unit came under attack in the Arghandab River Valley on Aug. 24.

Brown exposed himself to heavy enemy fire three times in an effort to slow the enemy’s advance and drag his assistant gunner, who was suffering from extreme heat exhaustion, to safety, according to the award citation. He was unavailable for interviews.

The brigade also received a new commander – Col. Barry Huggins – and a new name – the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – during the ceremony. Huggins, who previously served as an executive officer and battalion commander for the Lewis-McChord 3rd Brigade, took over from Tunnell.

Two mothers expressed frustration that their sons were unable to attend the welcome-home event.

Judy Schulz and her husband drove 2,400 miles from Tennessee to pick up their 20-year-old son, Spc. Daniel Schulz. He was unable to attend because he had to complete paperwork and screenings before the Army would release him on monthlong block leave.

Schulz said her son told her about 200 other soldiers were in the same situation. Schulz said her son returned July 13 and remarked that his outprocessing should have been taken care of earlier.

Maj. Kathleen Turner, an I Corps spokeswoman, said it was unfortunate but necessary as soldiers were squeezed through a limited number of modules this week in an effort to get their leave started by this weekend.

Turner said soldiers will have other chances, such as military balls, to be welcomed and thanked for their service.

Home sweet home

On Thursday July 15th, we watched Max's plane land on a large screen set up in the gym at Ft. Lewis. He landed a couple of hours away from the post and they took a bus to where we were waiting shortly after landing.

The gym was filled with people, excitement, flags and anticipation. As it grew later, the small children grew more exhausted but fought to stay awake to see their parent again after so long. My child, at age 2, came for a couple of hours and then went back to the hotel with my mother-in-law because Max wasn't physically getting in until midnight or after.

I waited and watched...there was so much to see around me. Once their bus arrived, we assembled in this gym, facing the soldiers but were not able to actually see them yet. The partition that separated us from them was finally removed and there they stood, assembled in formation. I tried to find Max in the sea of camouflage but my father-in-law beat me to it.

A General spoke, someone sang a song, and then in an instant, they were "released," and came running to us, each in search of his/her family. I found Max and after I leapt into his arms, I snapped the above photograph just as he was saying, "It's good to be home."

Redeployments

Max is currently in Afghanistan awaiting the plane that will bring him home. We, the spouses, receive a call 24 hours before our husbands land. Words can't accurately describe how that phone call feels. A year at war is a long time.

The Army, keeping things simple, refers to returning from a deployment as a "redeployment."

I've learned a few key things from past redeployments:

* My stomach is overtaken by butterflies anticipating the initial greeting...why, is beyond me. I'm married to the guy, after all.

* He hasn't slept comfortably for a very long time but he'd never acknowledge that.

* They're all advised not to drive a vehicle for two weeks since he hasn't driven on paved roads in a car for a year. I think this is a good rule.

* His ruck sacks stink. If it were up to me, I'd throw them all out. But, my husband doesn't throw anything out...ever. So, we do laundry for the next week, non-stop.

* During our time apart, we've both changed and grown in different ways and we have to share our experiences with one another.

* It takes about a month for it to sink in that he is really home.

U.S. Army soldiers carry a critically wounded American soldier on a stretcher to an awaiting MEDEVAC helicopter from Charlie Co. Sixth Battalion, 101st Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Shadow June 24, 2010 near Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

I usually try to post uplifting photos on this blog but something about this one made me want to stare at it and delete it at the same time.

2 more weeks and he's home!

I have been afforded some incredible opportunities in my life and with each passing year, I am better able to reflect, appreciate and learn from these experiences. And, with time, I look at the challenges as feats, the hardships as lessons and the happy times as treasures. As such, I can’t imagine ever not reflecting on my experiences as a military wife during a time of war.

I often think about the wives of veterans from previous wars and wonder if they, like I, think to their days as a military spouse with introspection. To say that I will remember this period of my life with profoundly complex emotions would be an understatement.

Being married to someone in the military over the course of the many years of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom has been life-changing.

It’s almost hard to find the words to properly define the emotions that I have felt: pride for the uniform that my husband wears that represents our great country. Fear for his deployments into combat; a combined fear of the unknown and of being misunderstood. Happiness for when I receive the call that he is back again on American soil and I can pick him up and bring him home. Sadness for the fact that he has seen far too much for his young age…for any age. Confusion for all of the politics and policies that many cannot seem to get past in order to simply support our troops.

When people ask me how I do it or where my strength comes from, I explain that I don’t have a choice; I married someone who believed in serving his country. He was, after all, in the Army when I married him. Did I fully understand all that entailed before becoming an Army wife? Definitely not. Has it been easy? Most certainly not. But, all said and done, I wouldn't change a thing because it has taught me to value life and cherish love in a way that I probably would have taken for granted had we just lived a "normal" life.

With two weeks left until his year-long deployment is over, I await his return with an enormous sense of relief. Yet, somehow, it still feels like an eternity away.