Donner continues to blitz competition
Not a single soldier’s hand would go unshaken at Monday evening’s homecoming for 250 Fort Carson GIs fresh back from Afghanistan.Not if retired Army Lt. Col. Charley Watkins had anything to say about it.Watkins and a half-dozen fellow Veterans of Foreign Wars members lined both sides of the most heavily used exit doors at the post’s Special Events Center, jutting their hands into a sea of departing uniforms at every opportunity.The veterans have been greeting every flight of Fort Carson soldiers returning from war for several years.“Welcome home,” Watkins told a soldier while slipping him a souvenir coin in a hand shake. “Glad you’re home safely.”
There are plenty of hands for Watkins and his crew to shake lately. The 250 soldiers who returned Monday after serving nine months in Eastern Afghanistan are part of the 3,500 4th Brigade Combat Team soldiers returning through December. As many as nine more flights of soldiers are due back by mid-December.Spc. Anthony McIlroy, an infantryman returning from his first deployment, got a hearty handshake from the VFW group Monday.McIlroy struggled to find the words to express his gratitude for the welcome.“It means more than you can explain,” he said. “When they shake your hand, you know that you’re now part of that camaraderie, that brotherhood. It’s a great feeling.”The toughest part of the deployment, McIlroy said, came when two of his team leaders and his squad leader were injured in a rocket attack.On Monday evening, McIlroy was sure of one thing he’ll get done now that he’s home: Visit his three injured buddies.For Watkins, a Vietnam veteran, and his wife, Donna, greeting returning troops like McIlroy is an extension of their volunteer service at the post’s Soldier and Family Assistance Center.The couple moved from Craig to Colorado Springs to regularly volunteer at the center — and hopefully save lives and marriages.Watkins said he has a passion for helping those with post-traumatic stress disorder.His message to new combat veterans: “It doesn’t have to end in divorce or suicide.”“They’ve done nothing wrong,” Watkins said. “They’ve only done what their country asked them to do. It’s no reason to commit suicide.”His volunteer job at the center encompasses a wide range of duties, everything from making coffee and chatting with soldiers to connecting them with resources.“Nobody helped the Vietnam veterans when they got home. That’s why we got involved.”
A family waits to welcome home a soldier with Fort Carson’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during a homecoming ceremony at Fort Carson Monday, November 26, 2012. The soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE
Soldiers with Fort Carson’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division were welcomed home at a ceremony at Fort Carson Monday, November 26, 2012. The soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by Mark Reis, T Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE
SPC Michael Saccheri gets acquainted with his nine-month-old daughter, Brooklyn at a welcome home ceremony Monday, November 26, 2012, for Saccheri and his fellow soldiers with Fort Carson’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. The soldiers were Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE