Repeat tours to war take their toll-GIs of 10th Mountain show signs of strain

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Repeat tours to war take their toll
GIs of 10th Mountain show signs of strain

By Aamer Madhani | Tribune national correspondent
November 5, 2007


FT. DRUM, N.Y. - Near the back of a gymnasium named after a fallen soldier from another era, Army Spec. Brandon Deaton hobbled on his prosthetic leg in the crowd of parents, spouses and children, waiting for his battle buddies to emerge from a side door and mark the end of the 15-month tour that he had started with them.

Deaton's tour with the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, in a backwater south of Baghdad, ended prematurely on March 24 when a bomb exploded under the Humvee he was driving, shredding much of his lower left leg and ending his boyhood dream of making a career of the infantry.

Maj. Gen. Michael Oates spotted Deaton in the gymnasium crowd and asked him to join his company for its march inside for the welcome-home ceremony. Deaton was initially reluctant. He was unshaven, wearing baggy shorts and a T-shirt featuring a heavy metal band. But the two-star general's will, and rank, proved persuasive, and Deaton limped off to join the other soldiers.

"I guess I felt good about it," Deaton, 20, said afterward. He had taken a leave from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and driven 450 miles to see his company return home. He paused, then added, "I don't know. ... It just didn't seem right. This was for these guys. They were gone for 15 months. I only was there for six or seven months."

In a sense, Deaton's downplaying of his sacrifice reflects the Ft. Drum community's deep understanding of how much blood and anguish the 10th Mountain Division has given to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Welcome-home ceremonies like this one are recurring here; the 2nd Brigade, about 3,600 soldiers, has been the most deployed unit in the U.S. military since the Sept. 11 attacks, spending about 40 months on the front lines. About 40 percent of the division's soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least twice.

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