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HomeNewsFort Campbell's 101st Sustainment Brigade units return home for Easter

Fort Campbell’s 101st Sustainment Brigade units return home for Easter

Written by Spc. Michael Vanpool
101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

Fort Campbell KY, 101st Airborne Division101st Sustainment Brigade - Lifeliners

Fort Campbell, KY – It was a special Easter weekend for the families of the 101st Human Resources Company and 101st Financial Management Company, Special Troops Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, when their soldiers returned home from deployments this past weekend.

The 101st HR Company was deployed to Kuwait for nine months, and the 101st FM Company deployed to Afghanistan for 12 months. They returned back to Fort Campbell on Easter and Good Friday, respectively.

Spc. Teale Foster, with the 101st Human Resources Company, Special Troops Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, bonds with his son during a welcome home ceremony, April 8th. The 101st HR Company returned to Fort Campbell Easter Sunday after a nine-month deployment to Kuwait. (Photo by Spc. Michael Vanpool)
Spc. Teale Foster, with the 101st Human Resources Company, Special Troops Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, bonds with his son during a welcome home ceremony, April 8th. The 101st HR Company returned to Fort Campbell Easter Sunday after a nine-month deployment to Kuwait. (Photo by Spc. Michael Vanpool)

“It’s like winning the lottery,” said Spc. Brandon Thomas, of the 101st HR Company, about returning home on the holiday. He was greeted by his nine-month-old daughter wearing a brand new Easter dress during a welcome home ceremony.

The soldiers were able to catch up with their family and friends during the holiday weekend.

“It’s good to be back for Easter,” said Spc. Curtis Robinson, of the 101st FM Company. Four of his sisters held out a giant sign as he walked into the ceremony on Friday. “We had a good weekend. We went to Dave and Buster’s and I caught up on some sleep,” Robinson said at the end of the weekend

While in Kuwait, the HR Company operated the Theater Gateway, which is a familiar sight to any deployed soldier. The Gateway is the location where soldiers go in and out of theater, whether it’s on leave or mobilizing.

“This Human Resources Company tracked the most important commodity in this Army, and that’s ‘the soldier,’” said Col. Michael Peterman, the commander of the 101st Sustainment Brigade.

This rotation, the HR Company was given another group of soldiers to account for. The last of the troop to leave Iraq were shuffled through the Theater Gateway, all of them in hopes of being home for Christmas.

The company commander, Maj. Damian R. Cunningham, oversaw his soldiers, and they worked around the clock during the holidays.

“There was a lot of pressure, especially ahead of the commander In chief’s directive. We were able to do that seven days ahead of his directive,” he said.

Meanwhile, 1,000 miles away in Afghanistan, the 101st FM Company guaranteed that deployed service members could receive cash. They were also responsible for paying contracts in theater.

The soldiers of the FM Company were based out of large forward operating bases, and they would venture out to smaller bases to take care of business.

We put $500,000 to $1 million in cash in a backpack of a 19-year-old soldier, put them on a helicopter and gave them the responsibility of taking care of our nation’s financial obligations and keeping track of that spending,” Peterman said. “That kind of responsibility can be astounding to a young soldier.”

As the main headquarters redeployed detachments of the 101st FM and personnel accountability teams of the 101st HR remain deployed, continuing the mission until they return home over the next few months.

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