Engineers return home from Afghanistan
by Spc. Mason T. Lowery
FORT STEWART, GA. (Army News Service, Aug. 12, 2002) -- After seven months building base camps and repairing dilapidated buildings in Afghanistan, an engineer company returned home Aug. 4 to Fort Stewart, Ga.
"We did a lot of construction upgrades for the area. We pretty much built the whole thing up from ground zero," said Staff Sgt. Vincent E. Bourket, construction supervisor for Company A, 92nd Engineer Battalion. "There wasn't anything there when we got there. We built accommodations for the incoming soldiers, to better their living conditions."
The engineers were deployed to the Kandahar region in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
"We assisted the 101st [Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.] engineers doing runway repair," said Capt. Robert Croke, assistant battalion S3. "We built a lot of tents, electrical installation and earthwork. We put gravel down at all the life-support areas to get soldiers out of the dust."
Everyone had a specific role, company soldiers said.
Sgt. James Lilly, mechanic, said "Basically I fixed everything that it took to keep these guys rolling."
The engineering company will take a couple of days off to get over jet lag, Croke said, then the soldiers will come to work to in-process and finally take a hard-earned block of leave until after Labor Day weekend.
The engineers were proud of their accomplishments, but it was apparent from the hugs and kisses they dished out to friends and family members that they were happy to be home.
"It's just great to be back. It's been a long seven months," Bourket said.
It's great to see the family again, great to see some civilization, Lilly added.
"I'm going to see Lenny Kravitz and Pink in Atlanta," Croke said.
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