Stryker Brigade Combat Team Tactical Studies Group (Chairborne)
Posted on 01/01/2004 6:33:09 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
CAMP PACESETTER, Iraq - When he heard the attack helicopters were landing just outside, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Joe Peveto thought he might be in for a New Year's Eve treat.
His kid brother David flies AH-64 Apache Longbows. And seeing as how there's not that many of them in this part of Iraq, he figured the odds were good that David was at the controls.
The two Army warrants had seen each other just 10 days earlier near Tikrit - their first meeting in seven months. A visit Wednesday would be a bonus.
But this was not to be one of those stories you read about long-separated military family members reunited in far-off corners of the world.
By the time Joe, 37, hustled out of his workstation at the Stryker brigade's tactical operations center, the two Longbows were airborne and on their way out.
The brothers are from Orange, Texas. David turns 32 next month.
The Pevetos got to spend some time together after the brigade's big field exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La. David drove over from helicopter training at Fort Rucker, Ala.
After Joe had spent nearly a month in the field, the brothers went camping, of all things.
"I spent one night in the barracks, and then we went," Joe said. "I hadn't seen him in three years before that, not since I left Germany."
Coming to Iraq, the brothers thought they'd have it made. David was stationed in Kirkuk with a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division, and Joe was headed that way with the Strykers.
But then the Strykers were moved to Camp Pacesetter, and David's company was sent to Camp Speicher near Tikrit.
The way things change for soldiers from one day to the next, you can never pass up a chance to see a brother - even if it's might be just a glimpse of a helicopter as it flies off into the sunset.
The big guns at Camp Pacesetter had a New Year's greeting for the soldiers and anybody else within earshot.
At the stroke of midnight, the 155 mm howitzers opened with a volley of celebratory rounds.
It was enough to cause howling among the troops still up - and to jolt awake those who'd been fast asleep.
Earlier Wednesday night, the brigade marked the arrival of a new year with a talent show.
There were singers who rolled out original numbers about life "in this sandbox," and about a soldier's worry that his girl isn't being true. There was a standup comic complete with blue material about Miss America's Thanksgiving visit to the brigade back at Camp Udairi, Kuwait.
Sgt. Monnet Klauser and Spc. Pedro Felix danced a salsa in their black-and gray Army exercise clothes. And the-296th Brigade Support Battalion's "Frontline Players" rocked the house with a new song about the brigade's operations in Samarra.
But the biggest hoots of the night came at the end, when brigade commander Col. Mike Rounds told the 300 or so soldiers in the audience that better chow, better quarters and hot showers every day were soon coming their way.
Michael Gilbert: mjgilbert41@yahoo.com For reports on Fort Lewis' Stryker brigade, including stories by News Tribune embedded reporter Michael Gilbert, sign up for your Stryker brigade e-mail newsletter by registering at www.tribnet.com/ registration.
(Published 12:01AM, January 1st, 2004)
Stryker Brigade Combat Team Tactical Studies Group (Chairborne)
The big guns at Camp Pacesetter had a New Year's greeting for the soldiers and anybody else within earshot.
At the stroke of midnight, the 155 mm howitzers opened with a volley of celebratory rounds.
It was enough to cause howling among the troops still up - and to jolt awake those who'd been fast asleep.
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Stryker Brigade, ping!
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