Fayetteville, N.C., home to the 82nd Airborne Division, has been on hard times because the entire division has been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq for the better part of a year. After all, Ft. Bragg is a $4.5 billion a year economic engine for the city.
But 3rd Brigade is back and the Red Falcons, 1-325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, arrived Nov. 3.
So after 15 months on deployment, an amazing display of penned up, restrained consumer desire of thousands of soldiers was unleashed on Fayetteville and points near by last week. The targets of opportunity? XBoxes, HD televisions, and, of course, the pick-up trucks. And who can blame them.
But for all of us parents who believed it was the care packages, letters, and thoughts of loved ones that helped get them through deployment, think again. .....It was the dream of a new pick up truck.
Truck of choice for our trooper: 2008, extended cab, 4X4, GMC Sierra 1500 with a Z71 package. It's big enough to carry him and his whole platoon. :)
8 comments:
I love your blog! My fiance is with the 2nd brigade 82nd here at Fort Bragg, and we also, sitting in our drive have a nice new pick up truck! It is from his last deployment over there, and since I rarely drive it, its pretty new still!
I am so happy for you to have your soldier home, I know the amazing feeling, and the weight that falls off your shoulders. At this point mine was extended so many times and theres so many rumors I don't know when to expect him anymore! Petraeus says December, extensions say April, ahhh welcome to the Army!
I love reading this so I hope you keep it up even though they are home, its nice to read about the happy things to come :)
WELCOME HOME!
Melanie,
Thanks for stopping by. My son is in the 2nd brigade and we had heard all the rumors too. His unit was the one that was given notice to redeploy having been back at Ft. Bragg six days from their first deployment to Iraq. That's why they are home ahead of the rest of the brigade.
It's a challenge to find things to write about now that he's home. But he has a notebook full of stories so we should be covering old ground soon.
Our hearts are with the rest of our guys with 2nd Brigade...
We have some friends that were there with your son, it was UNREAL when they came home and steve called us and said to my fiance, "I'm going back with you man." I was completely confused, and then I was struck with "Wait can they do that?!?!" I can't even imagine. But they deserve to be home...
I am hoping to God some of these rumors are true and it's not truely April! I have now planned our third wedding, haha, with all these different extensions and the "sudden" leaving last January, we have really had to roll with it!!! It will be a great story one day in the future!
It's just so nice to see Fayetteville filling up with uniforms and hustle and bustle again! It's a good sign, I just hope the rest of 2 BDE comes back soooon!!
Enjoy the heck out of him being home, I am guessing he is on half days, but enjoy the holidays with him, last year was rough, so enjoy this one!!!!!!!
hey, gotta use that special pay for something LOL.
and the motorcycles... yeah, we have one now too...
LAW
LAW and MightyMom:
It's his money....so we just stood by with a smile (actually I spend 6 hours with him at the dealership). Of all the salespeople he could have drawn, he ended up with a retired Army master sergeant, and a veteran of the first Gulf War.
Melanie,
Hang in there. He will be home soon. As we hear "joe" rumors, we will pass them on.
The new pick-up truck is on my soldier's list, too. Good to know it spans all age groups - Mine is a 40-year-old father of two ... I, being his 39-year-old wife and mother of those two, could see myself in a 'Vette ... no room for car seats, though. Darn.
Jan,
I feel ya!
I am trying to weasel a new SUV out of this deployment since he got his toy last deployment! It is not going so well, haha.
I think regardless of age, all boys like their toys...haha!
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