Rockies get back to basics to sweep Royals
Spc. Jessica Foust never wore a pearly white dress. Nor did her husband-to-be, Sgt. Trevor Foust, don a tuxedo and watch her walk down an aisle flanked by family and friends.
The two went to a courthouse and filled out the required paperwork to be married on Feb. 17. A month later, separate planes took them overseas.
Their honeymoon destination: Eastern Afghanistan.
While hundreds of families and soldiers reunited Monday after nine months apart, Jessica and Trevor Foust prepared to finally settle down in the same home after spending most of their married life at war.
Trevor Foust returned Monday to Fort Carson alongside about 270 other soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team. It was the second ceremony within hours to welcome 520 soldiers, the most so far returning to the post in one day as the brigade flies back from Afghanistan.
Bad weather — particularly in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, where fog stopped air travel — delayed the some of the troops by more than a week.
Already home from Afghanistan, Jessica Foust joined her in-laws for the event. Holding a battery-powered flashing sign, Chuck Foust shook his head at the stress of watching his son and daughter-in-law deploy to the same war zone.
“A few more gray hairs,” he said, pointing to his head.
Married couples occasionally deploy together — nearly a dozen couples with the 4th Brigade served in Afghanistan, said Maj. Earl Brown, a post spokesman.
That doesn’t mean they saw each other any more often than couples with one spouse left behind in the United States. Stationed in the same province but almost never at the same post, the Fousts talked via Facebook and exchanged text messages.
“It makes it easier because you’re in the same time zone,” said Jessica Foust, who was deployed for the first time. “We knew what each other were going through.”
Their jobs kept them apart.
Jessica Foust served on a female engagement team to interact with Afghan women.
In a teams of four — three soldiers and an interpreter — the team went inside the Afghan mud huts and did a job that male soldiers couldn’t. Men often can’t interact with Afghan women for religious and cultural reasons.
The encounters helped soldiers gather intelligence about the village, Jessica Foust said. She ate their food and tried to understand the lives of Afghan women who, she said, spent most of their time caring for children or teaching.
Some female soldiers offered rare medical care to the Afghan women. Similar female engagement teams with the 3rd Squadron of the 61st Cavalry Regiment made a point to take off their armored vests when surrounded by children.
“It was shock to the kids,” said Lt. Col. Jason Hancock, the squadron’s commander. “There’s a young lady and there’s a young man. They’re carrying the same weight, with the same uniforms, the same weapons. And that’s humongous over there.”
It broke tall gender barriers that are deeply ingrained in Afghanistan, showing children that men and women can do the same jobs.
“Ten years down the road (a child) will say hey I remember seeing that American girl with an American guy, doing the same thing. Why the hell am I doing it this way?”
While Jessica Foust tried to build trust, Trevor Foust served as an artillery sergeant in a remote combat outpost.
The only saw each other for a few days in July, when Jessica Foust celebrated her birthday with a trip to her husband’s combat outpost.
On Monday, after more than five minutes of searching through a sea of reunited families at Fort Carson’s Special Events Center, Trevor once again hugged Jessica.
They still need to figure out when to have an actual wedding — not just a visit to the courthouse. And a real honeymoon — maybe somewhere a little less hot, violent and dusty.
But holding his wife again was a dream fulfilled for Trevor Foust.
In some ways, his first time in Afghanistan, in 2009, was easier. Back then, he was alone.
“It was a little tougher … but she’s strong,” he said while clutching his bride.
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First Lt Chris Pinkerton walks to get his bags with his son Shawn Pinkerton, 4, after returning home from Afghanistan with 270 of his fellow soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat team at the Fort Carson Special Events Center Monday, December 3, 2012. Michael Ciaglo/The Gazette Photo by MICHAEL CIAGLO/THE GAZETTE
SPC Richard Hedger and his best friend from Connecticut Christopher Scanlon wait outside the Fort Carson Special Events Center after Hedger returned home from Afghanistan with 270 of his fellow soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat team Monday, December 3, Photo by MICHAEL CIAGLO/THE GAZETTE
Terrence McDonald leans in to kiss his girlfriend SPC Dawn Adams after she returned home from Afghanistan with 270 of her fellow soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat team at the Fort Carson Special Events Center Monday, December 3, 2012. Michael Ciaglo/T Photo by MICHAEL CIAGLO/THE GAZETTE