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HomeNewsFort Campbell Welcomes Home the last of the 4th Brigade Combat Team

Fort Campbell Welcomes Home the last of the 4th Brigade Combat Team

CurraheeFort Campbell KY - 101st Airborne DivisionFort Campbell, KY – The never ending cycling of soldiers between the battlefield to the home front and vise versa continued Wednesday evening with the return of the final flight of 105 soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Currahees) who returned up early Saturday morning.

“This deployment was scheduled to be nine months, a good portion of our brigade about 2000 soldiers returned back at the 6-7 month mark. These soldiers returning today Easy Company of the 2nd/506th Infantry Regiment of the HBO Band of Brothers fame. They were contacting a TA Uplift Mission, or a Train, Assist, and Advise Uplift Mission. Easy company was selected because they finished their mission ahead of schedule out of FOB Salerno in the Khost Province of Afghanistan.” said Major Kamil Sztalkoper, 4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs

The returning soldiers approach the hanger and their waiting families
The returning soldiers approach the hanger and their waiting families

“The soldiers of Easy Company stayed behind providing operational security for the Security Force Advisory and Assistance Teams that were operating out of Forward Operating Bases Lighting, Gamberi, and Fenty in Regional Command East,” he continued.

Speaking about the upcoming in-activation of the 4th Brigade Combat Team he said, “I think it’s a phenomenal event that these are the last of the Currahees to come home. This will mark the last group coming back, capping off a nine-month deployment for these particular soldiers. It going to be the last deployment for the 4th Brigade Combat Team. The 4th Brigade Combat Team is scheduled to be in-activated late spring or early summer, so an April/May time frame. The 1st and 2nd Battalions will still remain within the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and be merged into two of the other Brigade Combat Teams during that same timeframe. This is basically is a wrap for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, and a perfect way of wrapping up the unit’s storied history.”

A large group of clearly emotional families and friends had gathered together to welcome the returning soldiers home with laughter and tears.

Families waiting on their loved one's arrival
Families waiting on their loved one’s arrival

“It’s been so hard, I can’t wait” said one mother with tears audible in her voice as she waited for her son Dylan Sierra. He will be signing out on leave on February 7th, then going home to visit with family and friends, “Dylan has been looking forward to coming back home, seeing his friends, doing things, and just having a good time, and relaxing,” she said.

“We’re so” excited said Jessica Ethridge who was on hand waiting with her family for their soldier Chris Ethridge. According to the family Chris is looking forward to spending time with his sons as well as enjoying the opportunity to do some hunting.

The Plane landing shortly after 4:00am
The Plane landing shortly after 4:00am

The plane touched down at 4:00am to the cheers of the soldier’s loved ones. After landing the plane taxied to the disembarking point, where the passenger boarding stairs were moved in position. Cheers rose again when the first soldiers appeared in the door. After deplaning as the soldiers walked slowly to the terminal; every soldier’s eyes were focused on the crowd searching for their loved ones. The crowd was doing the same, and as those in the crowd spotted their soldier, they shouted out his or her name to attract their attention. A little boy in the crowd repeatedly cried out, “Daddy!”

A returning solider looks out the window towards his waiting family
A returning solider looks out the window towards his waiting family

The plane taxied to its parking spot on the tarmac as the color guard marched forward joining Brig. Gen. Mark Stammer and the other dignitaries at the foot of the stairs leading from the airplane. The doors were cracked open as the families cheered loudly a few minutes later soldiers began streaming down the steps.

After deplaning as the soldiers walked slowly to the terminal; every soldier’s eyes were focused on the crowd searching for their loved ones. The crowd was doing the same, and as those in the crowd spotted their soldier, they shouted out his or her name to attract their attention.

When the soldiers had passed, the families returned into the terminal to take part in the short ceremony that was all that stood between them and their loved ones.

The soldiers drop off their weapons, then the Ceremony officially begins as the soldiers march together into the facility as those in the crowd cheer wildly for them.

The returning soldier's march into the hanger to the cheers of their families and friends
The returning soldier’s march into the hanger to the cheers of their families and friends

There is a brief ceremony consisting of a short prayer of thanks for their return, followed by remarks by Brig. Gen. Mark Stammer, the acting commander of Fort Campbell, KY, while the 101st Airborne Division is deployed to Afghanistan.

Brig. Gen. Mark R Stammer addresses the assembled troops
Brig. Gen. Mark R Stammer addresses the assembled troops

Never one to mince words while soldiers are waiting to reunite with their loved ones, Brig. Gen. Mark R Stammer kept it short and to the point! “Welcome back Currhees, and thanks for closing out another great chapter in your history,” he said. “Now go home tonight and take care of your families,” he concluded.

The ceremony concludes with the 101st Airborne Division band playing the Division Song and the Army Song as the soldiers and families sing along. Finally, the soldiers are dismissed concluding the ceremony.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Soldiers are given 20 minutes of family time which enables them to begin the reunification process with their families. It’s quite a sight to see as these brave warriors rock hard demeanor melt when they hold their children, and kiss their mothers, wives, or girlfriends for the first time in a year. Believe me, there is never a dry eye in the house.

A soldier renewing the family bond
A soldier renewing the family bond

After the visitation time is over the soldiers formed back up, the soldiers marched from the terminal and board buses to go to their unit to turn in weapons and other sensitive items before they are released to be with their families.

The soldier’s families are then given a short brief on reintegration issues, and then return to their vehicles to go pick up their loved ones once their turn-in was complete.

Following the ceremony we were given the opportunity to speak with battalion commander Lt. Col. Scott Kirkpatrick.

Lt. Col. Scott Kilpatrick
Lt. Col. Scott Kilpatrick

First and foremost, thank you guys for being out here! We appreciate it! I know it is very early in the morning and it’s always a great honor to have the folks from Fort Campbell here to welcome us home. This is the final flight of the Band of Brothers, and the final rendezvous with destiny as we furl the colors. It’s been a great honor to be there commander of the 2nd of the 506th, a great honor to be the commander this organization. We were able to bring everybody home for my battalion which is usually a very tough thing to do. This mission was difficult, but we are very very happy to be back.

We’re very very happy to have accomplished all of the tasks that were given to us.

This is a phenomenal organization this organization has always been focused on accomplishing the mission a matter what it was where was our how difficult it was. Our time in the Khost province north of Kabul and south of Kabul accomplishing those missions that’s the take away that the legacy of the band of brothers is no matter where we were always always accomplish a mission!

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About the 4th Brigade Combat Team

The CurraheesThe 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Toccoa, Ga. on July 20, 1942. The Regiment was given the motto “Currahee,” a Native American Cherokee word which means “stands alone”—a name that would become synonymous with its combat history. On March 1, 1945, the 506th was assigned to the newly formed 101st Airborne Division. The Division’s first commander, Major General William C. Lee observed that “the 101st has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny.” The 506th Infantry was destined to write its history in places such as Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, the Central Highlands of Vietnam and Cambodia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Under Colonel Robert F. Sink’s command, the Regiment proved itself over the skies of France as the lead element of the massive Allied D-Day invasion, June 6, 1944. With the objective to seize the high ground immediately behind the Normandy beach in order to prevent the Germans from reinforcing their shoreline defensive positions, the Regiment distinguished itself as the Soldiers of the 506th successfully conducted a night airborne insertion into German occupied France and secured their objectives. For its exploits at Normandy, the 506th Infantry Regiment received a Presidential Unit Citation. The 506th later parachuted into combat as a part of Operation Market Garden and earned its second Presidential Unit Citation for actions while successfully resisting the vicious German assaults at Bastogne. The final significant event during World War II occurred when the 506th drove into Southeastern Germany and overran Hitler’s famed “Eagle Nest” in Berchtesgaden. On Nov. 30, 1945, the 506th Infantry was inactivated at Auxerre, France.

The Regiment was twice reactivated as a training unit at Breckenridge, Ky., July 1948 to April 1949 and August 1950 to December 1953, and later reactivated in May 1954 at Fort Jackson, S.C. On April 25, 1957, the 506th was reorganized as part of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell. In December 1967, the 506th deployed to the Central Highlands of Vietnam. While in Vietnam, the Regiment was converted from Airborne to Airmobile Infantry. They served four years in Vietnam, earned twelve battle streamers and were awarded a third Presidential Unit Citation for actions at Dong Ap Bia Mountain at the north of the A Shau Valley.

The 506th was deactivated in 1984. The 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry regiment was later reactivated in 1987, to serve at Camp Greaves in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. They served in Korea until August 2004 when they deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. From August 2004 to July 2005, the 506th made huge strides in reducing the insurgent menace in their battle space. They conducted numerous search, raid, and sweep missions resulting in the detention of hundreds of insurgents and the destruction of tons of weapons and ordinance caches. The 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment deactivated Sept. 15, 2005.

The 506th Infantry Regiment was re-activated on Sept. 15, 2005 at Fort Campbell as the 506th Brigade Combat Team, providing regimental designation to the newly created 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The entire Brigade, structured under the Army Modularity Concept, deployed for combat a short two months later to Iraq for a year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07. The Brigade’s Soldiers added to the rich legacy of the 506th, setting the Army standard for route sanitization, conducting thousands of combat missions in Baghdad and Ar Ramadi, capturing or killing over 1,000 insurgents, and training Iraqi Army and Police forces. The Brigade’s task organization included 22 battalion-sized elements. The 1-506th Infantry Battalion fought in Ar Ramadi, while 2-506th Infantry Battalion fought in South Baghdad. The remainder of the Brigade fought in East Baghdad, securing a population of over 4.9 million residents and landmass of over 1,600 square kilometers. Soon after a successful redeployment, the Brigade, in the midst of personnel and equipment reset, became the Army’s Division Ready Brigade, once again poised for short-notice worldwide operations.

In early 2008, the 4th Brigade once again deployed, this time to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as part of Task Force Currahee. During its relatively short history, the 506th has fought in three wars on two continents, participating in sixteen campaigns. Each of these honors serves as a district reminder of the unit’s proud heritage, and its dedication to the preservation of freedom.


Bill Larson
Bill Larson
Bill Larson is  is politically and socially active in the community. Bill is a member of the Friends of Dunbar Cave. You can reach him via telephone at 931-249-0043 or via the email address below.
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