Fort Carson Mountaineer

3rd BCT returns home to Family, friends

By Jeanne Mazerall

Posted on February 10, 2011

Photo by Sgt. Craig Cantrell. Staff Sgt. David Evans, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, hugs his son and daughter during the welcome home ceremony Feb. 1 at the Special Events Center.

by Sgt. Shameka Edwards

4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office

About 180 Soldiers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, returned to the Mountain Post Feb. 1 from a deployment to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn.

The returning “Iron Brigade” Soldiers, who were deployed for about 12 months, were celebrated during a ceremony at the Fort Carson Special Events Center.

Brig. Gen. James H. Doty, acting senior commander, 4th Inf. Div. and Fort Carson, said during the ceremony that the weather in Colorado would serve as a reminder to the Soldiers returning that they were home at Fort Carson and no longer in Iraq.

“The Soldiers before us have lived in an environment with some of the hottest temperatures and now they have returned home to some of the coldest temperatures,” said Doty.

Spc. Charles Albritton, a unit supply specialist assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd BCT, 4th Inf. Div., who was greeted with hugs from Family and friends after the ceremony, said his Family although they told him it was cold, the below zero temperatures and wind were not what he expected.

“I did not think it was going to be this cold,” he said. “I am used to it being cold here, but today it is very cold.”

Soldiers from 3rd BCT will continue to redeploy throughout the spring.