Letter from Iraq

[BLUEHAWK]

This is a recent letter home to a friend, Scotto, father of the Officer who wrote it...

Family and Friends
September 24, 2005

"Hello everyone. September is almost over and we are
quickly approaching two months until we come home. As of now,
we are on track to leave Iraq the last week of November and should arrive back in Minnesota around XXXXXXX xxth. As always, I want to caution all of you that our dates are not yet finalized. We expect to release the official dates and timeline the first week of XXXXXXXX.

This update is dedicated to sharing what I know about
our redeployment and reintegration. We do not have many of the details yet, so I
understand it will be difficult to plan. We will provide the details as we
receive them. However, we don?t want to release
information too
quickly, have all of you make plans, and then have to
change them several
times. The important thing now is that we start to
understand the process.

We all know this past year has changed us all in some
way, either large
or small. The Soldiers have been affected and changed
by their
experiences here, and all of you have been changed by
your experiences at home
while we?ve been gone. It is critical we prepare
ourselves for
potential challenges. This doesn't mean all of us are
going to have
monumental problems. It means we need to understand
we are all likely to
experience challenges to some degree.

The Army understands how difficult is can be for both
the Soldiers and
their families when they return home from war. We can
look back at our
Country?s history and see how Soldiers have been
treated and effected
by war.

At the end of World War II, Soldiers redeployed as
part of their unit.
However, the return home took an average of three to
six weeks as
Soldiers moved by ship and train. During those weeks
of travel, they had
time to share their experiences with their fellow
Soldiers. This
decompression time allowed for a more smooth
transition when they finally
returned home. Still, there wasn?t any official
reintegration plan and it
was really only by chance and circumstance there were relatively low
instances of problems. Additionally, the whole nation supported the war
effort and the Soldiers returned home as heroes.

Vietnam was largely the opposite. There wasn?t wide
spread support.
Soldiers often returned home to protests and ridicule.
Soldiers also
returned home individually instead of with their unit.
To make matters
worse, Soldiers could realistically leave the jungle,
get on a plane,
and be home to their family in 24 hours. Again, there
was no
reintegration plan. However, the reintegration
challenges were much worse because
Soldiers did not have a chance to decompress, they
were not given a lot
of support, and resources were not made available to
help. This meant
the families were left to shoulder the burden on their
own.

The Army has learned from these experiences and has
developed a
reintegration plan to ease the transition from combat
to home. There will
always be challenges, but great strides have been made
to limit them,
identify them, and to provide assistance. Our great
State and Major
General Shellito, our Adjutant General, have seen
first hand the importance
of reintegration and are doing everything they can to
ensure our
Soldiers and families are cared for as we return home.

We are so very blessed to have the support of our
State, the Governor,
and our leaders. They are developing a great
reintegration plan that
is broken into three phases. The first phase covers
our time in Kuwait
and will last about two or three days. The second
phase happens at
Fort Dix and will last roughly six days. During both
of these phases, the
Soldiers will receive briefings designed to help their reintegration.
They will also have time and be encouraged to share
their experiences
to allow them to ease some of the stress or pain.

The third and most important phase begins when we
return to Minnesota.
This phase is broken into three parts. The first part
is the day we
return. On that day, we will arrive in Minneapolis
and move by bus back
to our communities. Our plan right now is to have the
Soldiers return
to their initial home stations. Buses will move
simultaneously to St.
Cloud, Brainerd, Sauk Centre, and Wadena. This will
give each of our
great communities the opportunity to show their
support and appreciation
for the Soldiers. Communities will provide fire truck
and police
escorts into town, be encouraged to put up the flags
and signs of support,
and have a chance to plan a very short welcome home
ceremony. Soldiers
will arrive at the armory, school, or arranged
facility and meet you
all. It will be much like the deployment ceremonies,
except deliberately
shorter. Soldiers will then be released for the day.

The second part will consist of two or three days of
Soldier and family
briefings and counseling. We have not settled on a
specific location
yet, but we are looking at Camp Ripley because it is
central to our
communities. These days are specifically designed for
the Soldiers and
their families. Families are encouraged to attend.
The purpose is to
provide the Soldiers and families time together to
learn where to go for
help, to share their experiences, and to interact. We
are all now part
of an extended family with a shared experience. I
know many of the
families have formed tight bonds while we?ve been
deployed.

Soldiers and families will report around 10 am and be
released around 3
pm. Regardless of the location we select, hotels and
meal vouchers
will be provided for Soldiers and their families who
live outside of a 50
mile commuting distance. However, no one will be
forced to stay in a
hotel if they still want to drive home.

The last day will consist of the official State
Welcome Home Ceremony
for our entire unit and will be attended by our State
and local leaders.
This is also the day the Soldiers are officially
released.

The final part of our reintegration phase consists of
a series of one
day drill weekends at roughly the 30, 60, and 90 day
mark. We do not
have the dates confirmed yet but they will be in
XXXXXX, XXXXXX, and
XXXXX. This gives us an opportunity to follow-up on
how things are
going and to identify those individuals who are having
a difficult time.
Of course, we understand families have planned
vacations and other
commitments and will will address Soldier attendance
on a case-by-case basis
for this weekend training periods.

I know this is a lot of information to absorb. I also
know that many
of you will have the initial reaction that you just
want to pick up your
Soldier and go home, or that all of this is
unnecessary. I?ve had
these same thoughts as well.

However, I know from my previous deployment, and from
past history,
that this is absolutely necessary and the right thing
to do for you all
and for our Soldiers. We can not afford to
underestimate the effects
this past year has had on all of us. We owe it to
each other and to ourselves to do the right thing, and that is exactly what we are going to do. I am confident our reintegration will be a positive experience.

I ask for your continued patience as we finalize the
plan. We will publish a detailed plan no later than the first week
of November.

Honor is the courage to fulfill your obligations.

God Bless,

Mike Xxxxxxxxx
Captain, Armor
Commander, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, XXXth Armor"