U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Curtis Montgomery, an instructor with the Marne Marksmanship Program at 3rd Infantry Division, discusses what Freedom 250 means to him serving in the Army at Fort Stewart, Georgia, June 4, 2026. Freedom 250 commemorates 250 years of U.S. Soldiers standing ready to defend and fight for the freedoms of the United States. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Clevon Wright)
It begins with flashing blue lights in the rearview mirror. A lane drift. A rolling stop. A burned-out taillight. For Soldiers stationed near Fort Stewart, the drive home from Savannah’s River Street can end in an instant — and what follows that traffic stop can unravel years of military service, strain families to their breaking point, and leave a Soldier questioning everything they worked to build.
