Story by: Sgt. Mary S. Katzenberger
BAGHDAD — After redeploying this winter, Pfc. Brian Hamrick plans on spending the holiday season on leave, with his wife and two children.
The motor transport operator, with Company F, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, United States Division – Center, and Hinesville, Ga., native, said once home, he and his family will take holiday photos and shop for gifts, and will also continue a family tradition they had to put off last year.
“We go around and look at Christmas lights—we do that every year,” Hamrick said. “My parents started that and I just carried it on with my family.”
Hamrick is one of hundreds of 3rd Bn., 69th Armor Regt., soldiers who are currently preparing for redeployment to Fort Stewart, Ga.
Sfc. Emmett Shannon, noncommissioned officer-in-charge of logistics with 3rd Bn., 69th Armor Regt., and a Tulsa, Okla., native, said logistical operations for the battalion’s redeployment have progressed smoothly from the start—even though they have turned in almost two battalions worth of equipment.
Shannon, serving on his fourth deployment to Iraq, said this rotation has been the most logistically demanding deployment he has been a part of, because 3rd Bn., 69th Armor Regt., has transferred three joint security stations to the Iraqi Security Forces. In addition, he has had to manage a large influx of equipment and transition it back into the Army’s supply system, because all of the battalion’s vehicles are remaining in country for dispersal to American units in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to the ISF.
Shannon has signed over 46 used and refurbished shipping containers to mobile redistribution teams—the units in Iraq responsible for cleaning up excess military equipment in the country.
Shannon said while the battalion has had a successful deployment, he is ready to redeploy, take his wife and children out to eat and learn about his family’s year at home.
“My daughter will be 17 [and] my son will be 13 when I get back, so [having missed] four years of their lives … it’s something special—to get back and retire and hang out and watch them grow up,” Shannon said.
| Date Taken: |
11.10.2010 |
| Date Posted: |
11.22.2010 03:01 |
| Story ID: |
60619 |
| Location: |
BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: |
78 |
| Downloads: |
1 |
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