Alpha Battery’s movement from the ROK began on May 16 when members of their advance party boarded an airplane at Incheon International Airport for the trip home and ended on June 19 when the final members of Alpha’s Main Body 2 landed at El Paso International Airport.  So, for the last three months Alpha Battery has been busy with block leave, spending time with family and conducting inventories of their “new” equipment. 

   Upon arrival back at Fort Bliss, Alpha Battery conducted one week of post in-processing.  Overall, this was a pretty smooth transition.  Soldiers of Alpha Battery used this time to find homes, apartments or get settled in to their new barracks.  Sgt. David Striedinger had this to say about the first week back: “In-processing went pretty smooth.  I think we were all ready to go on leave and spend time with our families.  On the whole; it was just good to be back in the United States.” 

   After the week of in-processing, the battery moved into block leave.  Soldiers were given the opportunity to take up to 30 days of leave.  Soldiers spread out around the country to see family, friends and to enjoy some well-earned time off.  This was definitely the highlight of the move back to Fort Bliss for Alpha Battery.  Spc. Ronald Worster remarked, “The best part of moving back was seeing my wife and kids.  It was a long year being away from them.”  Striedinger took his wife and one-year-old son on a trip to Florida to spend time with family. He stated, “It was really nice to be able to communicate in English again and just get back to the way of life that I’m used to.”  Spc. Brian Tomsello added, “Man, it was nice to move back in with my wife and not have my room inspected everyday.”

   But after block leave, it would be fun and games no more.  Once everyone returned from their leave, Alpha Battery embarked on the mission of conducting complete inventories of all battery equipment.  The battery was given three weeks to accomplish this task.  This process took a lot of hard labor and detailed work but it was evident that the Soldiers of Alpha Battery were up to the task.  Tomsello remarked, “Let’s just say we had some equipment issues. But we pressed on and got it done.”  By the end of July, all equipment was cleaned, organized and accounted for. 

   Now that inventories are complete, Alpha Battery will continue to dig into their new foxhole.  Many improvements still need to be made.  There are new missions that are coming up including support of the annual Japanese Hawk Live Fire exercises and range qualification, to name a few.  So, it’s evident that Alpha has some busy months ahead.  “It seems like we are basically starting from scratch,” noted Striedinger, “but I think after everything we accomplished in Korea we are more than prepared to get this unit up and running.”    

     When asked, many Soldiers disagreed on the enjoyment of their year in Korea.  Some had a great experience living in a different culture.  Others struggled through the year.  But there was one thing everyone agreed on: It is good to be back home, no matter how hard it may be digging this new fox hole.  

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