Photo By Sgt. Ann Knudson | Lt. Col. Warren Pauling, right, watches as 2nd Lt. Stephanie Collins and 2nd Lt....... read more read more
FORT MCCOY, Wis. - Mints on your pillow are a real luxury. It's something you'd find at a five star hotel, one with ankle-deep carpets and king-sized beds. You wouldn't expect mints on a narrow cot on bare tile flooring. However, they are there today at Fort McCoy, as a 'welcome home' for some North Dakota Soldiers.
About 40 North Dakota Soldiers have just returned stateside from Afghanistan. They are members of the 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery Regiment's RAID III (Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment). They mobilized in January 2009 for a high-tech monitoring mission to protect forward operating bases, and have just been replaced by North Dakota's RAID IV. They will demobilize at Ft. McCoy, Wis.
A demobilization group from North Dakota has been coordinating arrangements for the returnees. It was supposed to start last night with an official welcome. The adjutant general, Maj. Gen. David A. Sprynczynatyk, Command Sgt. Major Dan Job and Sgt. Maj. Monte Ohlhauser flew from North Dakota, planning to greet the Soldiers as they stepped off of the plane. The RAID Soldiers' plane needed to stop in North Carolina, however, where they were delayed. The airline put the Soldiers up in a nearby hotel until a new flight was available, and they were on their way again by late morning.
Fort McCoy lined up buses to take the returning Soldiers from the airfield to Ft. McCoy, where meals were ready for them. North Dakota's demob team had crates ready to collect the Soldiers' weapons and gas masks and had prepared barracks for the RAID Soldiers to stay in. The returning Soldiers will need several days of processing — including medical tests, paperwork and briefings — before they'll board buses for the final leg to North Dakota.
The barracks at Ft. McCoy are plain two-story buildings with rows of cots in open bays. Wall rods and footlockers serve for closets. The blankets are thin, and there are no bedspreads. However, just for tonight, there are mints on the pillows.
"It started about six years ago," said Lt. Col. Warren Pauling, officer in charge of the demobilization. "It began as a joke: 'We'll have mints on our pillows.' We started with hard candy,
and somehow we've kept it up ever since."
| Date Taken: | 01.26.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 01.26.2010 14:07 |
| Story ID: | 44464 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 206 |
| Downloads: | 174 |
This work, Soldiers Arrive to Mints on their Pillows, by SGT Ann Knudson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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