News stories tagged with "deployment"

(02/09/12) Fort Drum's 3rd Brigade Combat Team is beginning to come home after a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. The brigade, about 3,500 soldiers, was sent to an area just west of Kandahar City in southern Afghanistan, where few troops had been before.

They were deployed as part of President Obama's troop surge in the country. As the mission winds down, brigade commander Colonel Patrick Frank says his unit did a good job in a difficult setting. He spoke from Afghanistan with reporter Joanna Richards.
(CORRECTION: We originally reported that these troops were the first US soldiers in that region. Many comments on our story have challenged that assertion. We've contacted our sources at Ft. Drum for clarification and are still waiting for a reply. To the best of our understanding now, Col. Frank's unit was the first brigade level force to deploy there.) more

(11/02/09) The cycle of "train, deploy, return, repeat" has been steady at Fort Drum since 2001. Troops are regularly leaving for Iraq or Afghanistan, or coming home. A chain-link fence across Route 26 from Fort Drum's airfield has become a part of that routine. Soldiers lodge red and blue plastic cups in the fence to make homemade welcome home signs for their comrades. Sgt. Robert Hoosier of the 10th CAB on "cup duty" is today's Heard Up North.

(12/24/08) The ongoing pace of wartime deployments are forcing some families at Fort Drum to get creative. Single parents can send their children back home to grandparents or other relatives when called to duty. But sometimes their children don't want to leave their friends and schools around Fort Drum. Today we have a second story of military kids living in the North Country while their parents fight in a war zone. K'Wuan Allen's mother and father are in Iraq. To get by, he relies on the discipline of sports, close friends, and a dose of faith. David Sommerstein reports.

(05/07/08) This week, soldiers from Fort Drum's 10th Mountain Division are heading back to Iraq for another 15-month deployment. Their families face a tough and nerve-wracking year of separation. The challenge is especially tough for military women, some of them leaving behind very young children. Brian Mann sat down to talk about life as a military mom with Sergeant First Class Jennifer Rebecca Williams. Her own daughter, Reilly, is three years old. Sgt. Williams is deploying with the Headquarters Company of the 10th Mountain Division. She says balancing family with military duty is getting harder as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stretch on.

(11/06/07) The 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade continues to return home from Iraq this week. The last flight, carrying the brigade's headquarters, is expected to land at Fort Drum next Monday. 3500 soldiers return after a 15 month tour-of-duty, three months more than they expected. Some members of the 2nd brigade have served in Iraq two or even three times. Experts say the longer the deployment, the harder it is for soldiers to reintegrate into ordinary life. Army officials are trying to ease the transition with a new program called "Battle Mind Training." 10th Mountain Division Chaplain Mike Charles told David Sommerstein it gets soldiers to think about home while they're still in the battlefield.

(08/09/05) Fort Drum is getting ready for a series of massive deployments that will position more than half of its force overseas. This week 3,000 soldiers in the 1st Brigade leave for a one-year tour of duty in Iraq. In the winter, the 10th Mountain Division will take control of U.S. operation in Afghanistan, sending more than 5,000 soldiers from the Army base near Watertown. These soldiers have been training to deal with Iraqi and Afghani nationals and insurgents for months. Thereis another group they'll contend with hundreds of journalists and cameramen, from network news reporters to freelance bloggers. To see how soldiers prepare to face the media, David Sommerstein attended a training session at Fort Drum and has this report.

(03/11/03) Some 250 active duty and reserve soldiers departed from Fort Drum yesterday for an undisclosed destination in the Central Area of Command, which includes the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. They're from the Army's 883rd Medical Company and the 511th Military Police. New York Senator Charles Schumer was there to see them off. He urged all Americans to set aside their political beliefs about war with Iraq and support the military. David Sommerstein reports from Fort Drum's Rapid Deployment Facility.

(11/13/02) The light infantry of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum near Watertown played a combat role in Afghanistan last year. Many soldiers only returned from Central Asia six months ago. Now the community at Fort Drum is living through another period of anxiety as deployments to Iraq loom. David Sommerstein reports.