Soldiers packing up and going home

Photo By Spc. Anthony Zane | Soldiers from Alpha Company, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, pass rucksacks full of personal belongings to each other to pack them into a cargo container to ship them home on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Oct. 28.  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IRAQ

11.01.2011

Story by Spc. Anthony Zane 

362nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – For many soldiers the end of their deployment is in sight as Operation New Dawn approaches end of mission.

Soldiers from Alpha Company, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, packed their belongings and loaded them into a cargo container on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Oct. 28.

"Today, we’re laying out all of our bags that are all packed and ready to send home," said Pfc. Devin Alderman, signal intelligence analyst, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, from Tampa, Fla.

Alderman arrived on COB Adder after he finished his advanced individual training, and he is looking forward to completing the mission here and returning to the states, he said.

After a required customs inspection of their belongings, soldiers from the 3BSTB lined up side-by-side passing each bag along the line to pack the cargo container more efficiently.

As the packing continued, one soldier made last minute adjustments to his guitar before packing it away.

Loosening the strings on the guitar helps protect it from damage while it is stored away, said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Adrian Cabrera, intelligence fusion chief, Alpha Company, 3BSTB, 1st Cavalry Division, from Santa Monica, Calif.

“With all the time it’s going to spend in the container, if you ship it with the strings taught, then it could bend the fret board,” said Cabrera.

“With the little time that I have, it’s been something to do other than watching movies,” said Cabrera.

Although packing up equipment and personal gear is a lot of work, it is a welcoming chore for these soldiers because it means that they will soon be home.

“It’s been a long deployment,” said Cabrera. “This is my fourth deployment, so it feels really good to be going home.”

Each day more soldiers on COB Adder are waking up to the day they have been looking forward to for a long time, the day they go home.

• Date Taken: 11.01.2011
• Date Posted: 11.01.2011 07:47
• Story ID: 79373
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ