Stryker Brigade News

I am SO lucky. My son is finally home safe. My husband, sister and I attended the B & C 5/20 Ceromony this morning at 8:30. What an incredible sight to see our soldiers come into Sheridan Gym. After a brief speech, the soldiers were released from formation. My son found me before I found him. It was the best hug of my entire life. We tracked down a couple of other soldiers to hug them for their moms, and even got to meet a fellow Stykernews member and her son. We were honored to meet our wonderful FRG person, Sonya Beatty, who has spent countless hours phoning families. We were also honored to once again see Lt. Col Reed and meet his wife Sharon. This is one of the men who were really watching out for our sons.

We were at Fort Lewis last Nov. 14th when they departed for Iraq. There were some similarities (hanging out in the barracks for hours with the soldiers) but today by far was much much better. These soldiers are incredible. They rode the bus from Sheridan Gym to their barracks. We followed the bus. They proceded to the semi holding all of their gear, and had to haul their heavy gear over to the barracks. Then they had to turn in their weapons and get their room assignment. Then, they waited to get released. And waited, and waited, and waited. One good thing about the Army - they keep a very good inventory of all of their sensitive equipment. One item was missing, and the entire barracks were locked down. I wasn't too terribly bothered - I was enjoying hanging out at the barracks with these wonderful young men. The missing item was found in the 1/14 weapons room - I believe it had something to do with a soldier transferring and taking it with him.

The Family Readiness Group volunteers deserve a huge round of applause for how they prepared the barracks. The rooms were spotless, the beds were made very nicely and each bed had a gift basket, which was a laundry basket full of all of their necessities. The soldiers seemed to be having fun taking each others treats.

The soldiers who are on their way out of the Army, including my son, had to take a second bus to another barracks once they were released from the first barracks. So, we got the car and followed the bus again. This was reminding me of the first day of school. They had to get their room assignments, unpack their gear and get cleaned up for their first evening back home.

We took our son out to dinner and had a great talk with him. We talked about his experiences, and the bonds that were made in Iraq. He will make friends in the future, but none will ever share the bond as he has with that of his fellow soldiers. His stories truly touched us. We spoke about Jake Herring, and how everyone felt about Jake, and how they felt when he died. I asked Ricky to share his stories with Jake's mom when the time is right.

We were at Hooters (my first time there, but not my son's!) and after a while some fellow soldiers arrived. We left our son in good hands and headed for home, 2 1/2 hours south of Fort Lewis. Our youngest son is driving up to Fort Lewis tomorrow to bring Ricky home for the weekend. I am so incredibly lucky to have my son back safely in the US.

The Bravo & Charlie 5/20 companies are amongst the last of the Stryker Brigade to return to Fort Lewis. They have made huge sacrifices for our country. One out of every three of them have purple hearts. They have lived in weather that would make most of us pass out, they have seen things that would make most of us ill, they have endured more than I can ever imagine. And yet if you could have seen them in the barracks today, you never would have guessed what they had been through. They are truly incredible young men.

My thoughts and prayers will always be with Susan Sutter. Her son should have been here today. May God please ease her pain with each passing day. As much as this has been a joyful day for so many of us, we will never forget Jake.

Dana