Soldiers from the 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, exit a plane at Biggs Army Airfield, returning from a 15-month deployment to Southwest Asia. Photo by Dustin Perry.
2007 in review
Dustin Perry, Monitor Editor
Fort Bliss was host to a flurry of activity in 2007. The following feature is an assembly of just some of the several memorable moments the installation played host to.
The streets and hot spots around the base – particularly a certain “village” at Biggs Army Airfield – were much quieter at the beginning of last year than they had been only months before. By January, nearly 3,300 Soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division had already been deployed to Iraq for more than two months. Week after week they sent back stories of images of their Soldiers in action, doing the job they were sent there to do. They returned 14 months later in November and December, the last crop of them arriving at Biggs on Christmas Eve. Thirty-one of the unit’s troopers were killed in action, but the 4-1 Cav. persevered.
Col. Barbara Springer, chief Wounded Soldier Program at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Kevin Panneol, bilateral amputee wounded warrior, and Sgt. 1st Class Sal Wigoner, Arkansas native and Panneol’s previous platoon sergeant, walk up the 26.2-mile trail during the Bataan Death March race at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Photo by Virginia Reza.
The expansive lineup of new Future Combat Systems equipment and vehicles planned for future use were tested and touted extensively by engineers and technicians. With proper budgeting and further development, FCS is shaping up to be the new face of the military’s defensive and offensive capabilities.
As always, there was never a shortage of things to do at Fort Bliss throughout the year. The Bataan Death March, Armed Forces Day, Soldier Show, Cars Under the Stars, Amigo Airsho, Brut Sun Bowl, Veterans Day Parade, Easter Egg hunting, post-wide trick-or-treating and a grand Christmas tree lighting all provided the community with a wealth of activities to enjoy.
Pfc. Mauricio Alfredo McKenzie of Panana, left, Spc. J. Cruz Medina of Mexico, Sgt. Mario Janel Nivar of the Dominican Republic and Sgt. Jorge Humberto Rojas of Mexico hold their U.S. flags during a U.S. Citizenship Naturalization Ceremony at the El Paso Convention Center. Photo by Wilson A. Rivera.
Training continued for Fort Bliss Soldiers as well. Whether they were spending days in the field for training exercises, hitting targets at the rifle range or firing missiles in the desert, the troops were constantly sharpening their battlefield skills and
Local humanitarian efforts surged in 2007. Soldiers, their families and the rest of the community donated money, food, water, clothing, toys and recycled electronics – all in the name of charity and selflessness. They also built houses, restored playgrounds, visited orphans in Juarez and cleared the walking trails along the Franklin Mountains.
And just last month, the Army-wide Family Covenant initiative to double the amount of money going into family programs to $1.4 billion made its Fort Bliss stop and was signed at the Centennial Club by Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.
This year started off with the departure of Maj. Gen. Robert P. Lennox as the commanding general. The entire installation saw unmatched growth and prosperity under his leadership. The next 12 months look to be promising ones, and it can be said with fair certainty that the community will be there to make it happen.