“That’s a whole lot of getting yourself in order,” said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a public affairs officer for the 82nd Airborne. “It’s a surprise for a lot of people, but the soldiers are happy and proud to do it.”
On a rainy Saturday morning, carrier planes on a tarmac at Fort Bragg were loaded with supplies. And in a warehouse of a building, men and women waiting to head out napped on wooden benches, their backpacks repurposed as pillows. Copies of the Bible and Quran had been set out on a table, along with rosaries and prayer cards.
One soldier was rounding up others to get breakfast from the U.S.O., telling them to put away the snacks they had brought themselves.
The heft of the distress over the deployment has come from the uncertainty over what awaits the soldiers and, in turn, their families and friends.
Ms. Morales, who arrived at Fort Bragg in September, said that her husband’s last duty station had been in Alaska, where he did not have rapid deployments. In the past, he usually had about a four-month notice. This time, the heads-up came hours before he needed to report on base.
She said she planned to temporarily move to Las Vegas to stay with her mother. She will dive into her studies to be a veterinary technician, she said. And she will try to remain calm. “Just trying to keep my head away from the news,” she said, “and, you know, not looking at Facebook as much.”
Mr. Knight of the U.S.O. said that he cautioned families to brace themselves for a marathon of waiting.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/04/us/fort-bragg-iran-military.html
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