SgtJim
02-06-2011, 10:27 AM
By Seth Robbins/Stars and Stripes
all pictures got description, just "mouse over" it
BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Amid the fanfare of a deployment ceremony, Staff Sgt. Veny Castillo 9826whispered into the ear of his son Michael, who would turn 3 in a few weeks.
Castillo would likely be in Afghanistan by then.
“I’m going to miss it by just a couple of days,” Castillo, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, said of his son’s birthday. “I don’t think he understands where I’ll be. He’ll probably think that I’m just at the office.”
But Castillo’s wife, Jessica, will know. She has already endured one deployment, and was ready for this one to be finished before it even began.
“It’s kind of like you don’t want the day to come,” she said of his departure. “But the sooner he leaves, the sooner he comes home.”
On Friday, soldiers from the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team gathered in the Hall of Champions for a deployment ceremony, which signaled the brigade’s imminent departure to Afghanistan.
Cameras flashed as the colors of the brigade, which was reflagged in July 2009, were cased for the first time since World War I, symbolizing that the brigade is temporarily relocating.
Col. Patrick Matlock, the Bayonet Brigade’s commander, reflected on the months of training that the soldiers endured for the upcoming 12-month deployment. The ceremony ended with the soldiers’ voices echoing through the gymnasium as they sang “The Army Goes Rolling Along.”
9827 9828
“It’s the pep rally before the big game,” said Maj. R. Tyler Willbanks, a security force adviser for the 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery.
In the coming weeks, most of the brigade will deploy to northern Afghanistan to help provide security in the region. Besides working in the north, one of the units, the 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, will join a Canadian battle group in southern Afghanistan.9829
Two of the units have already landed in Afghanistan: Soldiers with Company B, 40th Engineers have been conducting route clearance missions since July; and soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, deployed in December to be part of a NATO training mission.
For many soldiers, the ceremony heralded their first deployment. Among them was Pvt. William Smith, 28, of the 24th Brigade Support Battalion, who said he was eager to get to Afghanistan.
“I want to see what the weather is like there,” said Smith. “I’ve been told it’s very cold at night and very hot during the day.”
Pfc. Michael Genzler, of the 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, said he was having mixed emotions. He will be heading to southern Afghanistan, where the fighting is most intense.
“I’m a little nervous,” he said, “but excited.”
9830 9831 9832
all pictures got description, just "mouse over" it
BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Amid the fanfare of a deployment ceremony, Staff Sgt. Veny Castillo 9826whispered into the ear of his son Michael, who would turn 3 in a few weeks.
Castillo would likely be in Afghanistan by then.
“I’m going to miss it by just a couple of days,” Castillo, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, said of his son’s birthday. “I don’t think he understands where I’ll be. He’ll probably think that I’m just at the office.”
But Castillo’s wife, Jessica, will know. She has already endured one deployment, and was ready for this one to be finished before it even began.
“It’s kind of like you don’t want the day to come,” she said of his departure. “But the sooner he leaves, the sooner he comes home.”
On Friday, soldiers from the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team gathered in the Hall of Champions for a deployment ceremony, which signaled the brigade’s imminent departure to Afghanistan.
Cameras flashed as the colors of the brigade, which was reflagged in July 2009, were cased for the first time since World War I, symbolizing that the brigade is temporarily relocating.
Col. Patrick Matlock, the Bayonet Brigade’s commander, reflected on the months of training that the soldiers endured for the upcoming 12-month deployment. The ceremony ended with the soldiers’ voices echoing through the gymnasium as they sang “The Army Goes Rolling Along.”
9827 9828
“It’s the pep rally before the big game,” said Maj. R. Tyler Willbanks, a security force adviser for the 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery.
In the coming weeks, most of the brigade will deploy to northern Afghanistan to help provide security in the region. Besides working in the north, one of the units, the 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, will join a Canadian battle group in southern Afghanistan.9829
Two of the units have already landed in Afghanistan: Soldiers with Company B, 40th Engineers have been conducting route clearance missions since July; and soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, deployed in December to be part of a NATO training mission.
For many soldiers, the ceremony heralded their first deployment. Among them was Pvt. William Smith, 28, of the 24th Brigade Support Battalion, who said he was eager to get to Afghanistan.
“I want to see what the weather is like there,” said Smith. “I’ve been told it’s very cold at night and very hot during the day.”
Pfc. Michael Genzler, of the 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, said he was having mixed emotions. He will be heading to southern Afghanistan, where the fighting is most intense.
“I’m a little nervous,” he said, “but excited.”
9830 9831 9832