Posted on 08/04/2003 9:39:19 AM PDT by demlosers
ILLESHEIM, Germany — Under pressure from the battle-scarred soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division, the Pentagon on July 23 announced its Middle East deployment plans for the Army’s 10 divisions — a move that gave some order to the future of tens of thousands of military families.
What the Army still has not addressed, though, is the future of thousands of troops from Germany who deployed in late 2002 and early 2003 with V Corps support units.
Among the absent: the Heidelberg-based headquarters staff, the Giebelstadt-based 12th Aviation Brigade, the Illesheim-based 11th Aviation Regiment, the Darmstadt-based 22nd Signal Brigade and the Hanau-based 130th Engineer Brigade.
“We have absolutely nothing official as to the length of the deployment — nada,” said Hilde Patton, a V Corps spokeswoman.
Soldiers and their families have been increasingly vocal in their criticism of the Army for failing to tell them when their open-ended deployments to Iraq and Kuwait might finally conclude.
In part because of the public pressure, acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane released a broad-brush plan with a time line for replacing the troops in the Middle East. It listed a general time line for the comings and goings of division-level units, but it omitted any mention of smaller V Corps support units comprising about 35,000 soldiers, including attached reserve and National Guard troops.
“There’s a detailed plan that’s being worked,” said an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, who requested anonymity. “Now, we just don’t know.”
It disappointed many family members not to see their unit on the list.
“It’s just really aggravating,” said Suzanne Selby, whose husband, John, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot with the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, has been in the Middle East since October. “If you have a date — even if it’s one you don’t really like — at least you can plan around it.”
Debra Sullivan is the spouse of a 440th Signal Battalion soldier in Darmstadt, Germany, and used to be in the 32nd Signal Battalion.
“[V Corps] never knows what the hell they’re doing, especially during deployments,” Sullivan said. “When my husband was getting deployed, he was going, then not going, then going, then not going, and they never made up their mind until he left.
“A lot of NCOs’ wives really want to know something solid,” she said, “even if it’s not accurate. They just want to know a time frame of when they’re coming home. It’s really all about stability.”
In the absence of a firm date, most unit commanders have told soldiers and their families to expect a homecoming one year from the date they arrived. That was the length of the deployment orders under which most soldiers traveled downrange, though most in V Corps hoped to go home soon after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Few anticipated staying longer than six months, the standard length of deployments in the Balkans and Afghanistan.
“You just plan one month at a time,” said Amanda Todd, whose husband is a sergeant in the Illesheim-based 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, which deployed in early February. “But an exact date would be better.”
“We’re just planning for a year and hoping it will be less,” said Autumn Butler, whose husband, Chris, also is a 6/6 Cavalry sergeant. “Christmas isn’t happening in my house until he comes home.”
Weary as they are of the long separation, V Corps spouses do understand military life.
“Nobody’s really happy,” said Colleen Carroll, whose husband, Mike, is with the 5/158 Aviation, “but we understand there’s a mission to be done.”
“They’re not working for Fortune 500 companies,” said Lynn Deppen, whose husband, Jim, is an Apache Longbow pilot in the 6/6 Cavalry. “They’re in the military.”
Veteran spouses such as Lynn Yerdon, wife of another 6/6 Cavalry Longbow pilot, realize that nearly all deployments end with a happy homecoming.
“They can’t keep them there forever,” she said.
— Jessica Iñigo contributed to this report.
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