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Business is booming at Baumholder as 1st AD troops return

Aug-15-2004 » Filed Under: General Military

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It looks as if the 1st AD has finished its move back to Germany.

By Terry Boyd, Stars and Stripes

BAUMHOLDER, Germany — On Wednesday, Staff Sgt. Patrick Piper went to the Baumholder PowerZone and plunked down $1,699 for his brand new, 52-inch Samsung television.

The TV goes to his off-post house, along with a Gold’s Gym weight set, a barbeque grill, a set of patio furniture and a computer. Oh, and two televisions — one for a daughter, one for a son — along with a DVD player.

Piper — with Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment, 47th Forward Support Battalion — is one of more than 13,000 1st Armored Division soldiers newly back from Iraq with thousands of dollars in hardship and incentive pay from their 15-month deployment.[...]

“A lot of them planned that when they got back they would do something that they could never do before,” he said. “A lot of them didn’t know what was going to happen next while they were down there. So it’s a reward for themselves or for their wives.”

Somewhat forgotten in the spending frenzy is just how bad business was while troops were gone.

As impressive as sales increases seem, customers have to understand that for the 15 months 1st AD bases stood empty, AAFES stores took huge losses while trying to retain staff until units returned, AAFES manager Burton said. [...]


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