'I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane'

Photo By Liesl Marelli | Families, friends and supporters of the 115th Fires Brigade honor their Soldiers at the brigade's deployment ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, June 21. Following the ceremony, the brigade will deploy forward to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

06.21.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Liesl Marelli 

3rd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery

FORT HOOD, Texas - After months of intense training, Colorado's 3rd Battalion, 157th Field Artillery is ready to turn the page and begin a new chapter of their lives. The time has come to "leave on a jet plane" across the big blue sea into a world they have been preparing day-in and day-out for; Iraq.

To commemorate the culmination of the mobilization training, the 115th Fires Brigade hosted a farewell ceremony, June 21, at 10 a.m. at Short Horn Airfield.

More than 2,400 Soldiers from Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, Alabama and Wyoming, came together for the hourlong ceremony. With bleachers overflowing and some sitting on the hot pavement baking in the Texas heat, hundreds of friends, families and 115th Fires Brigade supporters turned out for the ceremony to wish their Soldier a bon voyage.

188th Forward Support Company Commander Beth Soelzer, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said, "The Soldiers are excited about deploying, working hard to accomplish the mission and safely returning next year to their loved ones."

Immedidately following the ceremony, Soldiers who had not already taken their four-day pass quickly went to their barracks, changed into civilian attire and hit the road with their loved ones to enjoy their last days of freedom in the States before flying half-way across the world to their home for the States before flying half-way across the world to their new home for the next 10 months in the Middle East.

• Date Taken: 06.21.2009
• Date Posted: 10.02.2009 06:53
• Story ID: 39573
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US