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The readjustment begins

Feb-25-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

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by Bill Nemitz, Blethen Maine Newspapers

FORT DRUM, N.Y. - Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Bean of Freeport stood in line Thursday alongside his comrades from the Maine Army National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion, waiting his turn to give up his weapon.

"I'm going to miss it," Bean said, hefting the spotless M-16 rifle one last time. "It's been with me all year. Everywhere I go. Everywhere I sleep. I'm going to feel naked without it."

It is but one of the many adjustments the 548 soldiers from the 133rd face this week as they emerge from the fallout of a war zone and prepare for the final leg of their long journey home.

Starting Thursday morning and continuing into the first half of next week, the battalion's men and women find themselves in the sometimes surreal administrative maze that will take them from the daily perils of Operation Iraqi Freedom to the peace and quiet of snow-covered Maine. [...]

At the same time, the troops also must come to terms with an often dangerous deployment that cost them three comrades: Sgt. Christopher Gelineau of Portland was killed by a roadside bomb last April, Sgt. Thomas Dostie of Somerville and Staff Sgt. Lynn Poulin of Freedom died in the Dec. 21 suicide bombing of the dining hall at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul.

"Soldiers who have been in a combat zone have hardened up. They've cut their feelings off," Keene said. "And it takes time to get back into that mode with your family."

Spc. David Berry of Biddeford, watching one after another M-16 go back onto the racks, echoed Keene's assessment.

"It's tricky," said Berry, who's counting the days before he sees his fiance, Terry Fradette of Biddeford. "You spend a year learning to not trust people, because you have to. And now to readjust, you go back to learning that you have to trust."

Berry said the soldiers also need to brace themselves for what he calls "the pulling."

"Brothers and sisters want you to go here. Mothers and fathers want you to go there. Wife, spouse or whatever want you to come there," he said. "That's going to be the roughest part."

For all the challenges ahead, however, a palpable and irrepressible relief permeates the 133rd now that the war, at least for them, is over. And while Maine is still several days and a long bus ride away, life out of a desert camouflage uniform already beckons. [...]


Comments For "The readjustment begins":

Thanks so much for posting this article, Safetypro. My soldier is with this unit. It would be helpful for everyone to read this as it describes very well the processes designed to "decompress" the soldiers upon their return and points out that coming home is often just the beginning of problems for some.

My soldier is more fortunate than some who will now find themselves unemployed. He is a police officer who will return to a job that has been lovingly kept for him by a town that appreciates what he was called upon to do for his country. The town also voted to pay his state retirement and other benefits while he was deployed so he would have no financial loss now or in the future. Not every soldier is that lucky. We have to find a way for our soldiers to return to America and be assured that America will take care of their needs.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled to be able to sleep much better at night now. Again, I appreciate all the prayers, encouragement and good wishes that have come to me and Jason's family during this difficult time.

Posted by: yvonne | February 26, 2005 5:08 AM

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