 ‘It’s green and it’s beautiful’
Andrea Domaskin, The Forum
Published Monday, July 16, 2007
Photo caption: Maj. Gen. Rick Erlandson, commander of the 34
Infantry Division, addresses the returning soldiers Sunday at Volk Field
Air National Guard Base near Tomah, Wis.Photos by David Samson / The
Forum
NOTE: Rich Eggert is a Lieutenant from Moorhead Fire, currently on Active
Military Duty
“Cell phones are the greatest invention ever,” the 23-year-old Fargo man said Sunday at this military base. “We all started calling everyone immediately.”
But five days later, the Minnesota National Guardsman had not seen Fargo-Moorhead or the people he called.
That will come this afternoon, when Richter and seven or eight other soldiers roll into town. They’ll be the first group of several hundred area Minnesota National Guard members returning home in the coming weeks.
In all, more than 2,600 Minnesota Guard soldiers left home nearly two years ago for training and then Iraq. Now they’re coming back to the U.S. in waves, but before the homecoming comes lines and paperwork.
Maj. Gen. Rick Erlandson, commander of the 34 Infantry Division, addresses the returning soldiers Sunday at Volk Field Air National Guard Base near Tomah, Wis. Photos by David Samson / The Forum RELATED CONTENTSPC. Chris Deery's blog about his return home Photo Gallery: Troops almost home Guard soldiers relieved to be back on U.S. soil Andrea Domaskin ArchiveGuard members spend five to eight days demobilizing at this military base. Essentially, it’s a process of turning soldiers into civilians.
The Guard members underwent a similar process when they went on active duty nearly two years ago.
“What we’re doing at the demobilization side of the house is reversing what we did two years ago,” said Maj. Mary L. Tomko, who is overseeing Minnesota Guard demobilization at Fort McCoy. “We’re taking the soldiers out of that combat mode, out of the combat mind-set.”
It’s a process that takes time, Tomko said, noting that a day ago soldiers were being fired on in Iraq – and suddenly they’re not. Loud noises sometimes make the soldiers duck, she said.
“The Fourth of July is over, thank god,” Tomko said.
During demobilization, the soldiers undergo medical exams and learn about the health, education and other benefits they earned. They also begin the Minnesota Guard’s reintegration program, designed to help the soldiers adjust to civilian life. The Guard created the program – called Beyond the Yellow Ribbon – based on the sheer size of this deployment. It’s the largest since World War II, according to the Guard.
For Minnesota Guard members, that means mountains of paperwork, briefings and waiting.
Photo caption: Master Sgt. Rick Eggert from Moorhead is
anticipating his return home from Fort McCoy, Wis. Eggert is a member of
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st of the 34th Brigade Troops
Battalion based out of Bloomington, Minn. David Samson / The Forum
NOTE: Rich Eggert is a Lieutenant from Moorhead Fire, currently on Active
Military Duty
One Moorhead soldier is tasked with making sure the soldiers have something to do during their downtime. Master Sgt. Rich Eggert left Iraq for Fort McCoy around Memorial Day to start preparing for the troops’ arrival.
Eggert, who will return soon to his civilian job as a Moorhead firefighter, said there’s a lake, sporting equipment and the occasional trip into nearby Tomah for a movie. But demobilizing soldiers still fall under strict Army rules: “No fun.”
“We’ve only gotten to drink once, which made a lot of us sad,” Richter said.
He wishes the process could have been quicker, though he was in high spirits Sunday.
“It seems like they could have compressed it to less time so we could have got home to see our families,” said Richter, who arrived at Fort McCoy on Tuesday. “It’s not so bad today since we’re like 24 hours (from being home).”
Readers can reach Forum reporter Andrea Domaskin at (701) 241-5556
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