The long goodbye for Afghanistan deployment

FAIRBANKS -- The five minutes before the initial moment of separation is the hardest part of deployment, said Lt. Col. Brian Payne, commander of the 1-5 Infantry Battalion.
"As you're moving down towards deployment, the time is clicking down for how much time you've got with that person," Payne said. "The minute you're out of sight of each other, the clock shifts too. The minute you leave 'em, the clock flips and it's how much time 'til I get to see 'em again."
The clock has flipped for the 4,000 soldiers of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Division, who will be deployed in southern Afghanistan for one year under the command of Col. Todd Wood. The month-long process of shipping out began in April and winds up today.
This is the brigade's third deployment. About 40 percent of the soldiers are being deployed for the first time.
"My job is to get our units ready to go and get our families ready to stay," said United States Army Alaska Commanding General Maj. Gen. Raymond Palumbo during the 1/25 SBCT deployment ceremony April 7 at Fort Wainwright. Soldiers and their families have been preparing for this deployment the past 18 months with various exercises, including full-spectrum training in February at the National Training Center near Fort Irwin, Calif.
"It's with great pride and optimism that I report to you today that the Stryker Brigade Combat Team is ready to go," Palumbo said.
After their return from the National Training Center, most soldiers went on block leave for two weeks. The soldiers and their families began final preparations for the impeding deployment to Afghanistan.
Payne said that he realized the importance of looking for opportunities where he could create time for his soldiers. He framed the situation as a question: "How do I still get some training I still gotta get done, but how would I carve time so the guy's got an extra uninterrupted time with his family?"
"When I look out here what I see is family." Payne said, commenting about a recent Family Readiness Group meeting. "And I care about all of you the same way I care about my own. We want to do our best to make sure we do our job and come back with honor, dignity and respect.
"And that we come home."
In their final weeks together, families took every opportunity to spend time together. At the Father-Daughter Ball, girls twirled in tulle skirts with their dads at the "Secret Garden" gala. Stryker couples of the 5-1 Cavalry Squadron renewed their vows at the Door of Hope Church in Fairbanks. Families like that of 1 st Sgt. Larry Addy and wife Angela hosted a fish fry and corn bread feed at their home for friends and family of 1-5 Infantry Battalion soldiers.
Staff Sgt. Faafetia Tufi's family made the 2-8 Field Artillery Battalion's departure special by giving him a big American-Samoan sendoff. His wife, Malo, wore a hooded sweatshirt with a portrait of her husband while other family members held a banner that read, "We support our troops, especially our daddy, Staff Sgt. Tufi."
Tufi's daughter, Filogia, 9, said she will say a prayer for him every night while he is gone.
"Please bless our dad. And when he goes to Afghanistan, I want you to heal him, God, and protect him.
"Amen."

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J.R. Ancheta is a University of Alaska Fairbanks journalism student. In February, he embedded with the 1/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team at the National Training Center near Fort Irwin, Calif. He is photographing the story of the brigade's deployment and creating a multimedia project, "Getting Ready to Go, Getting Ready to Stay." UAF Snedden Chair Cheryl Hatch contributed to this story.