ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. - The fifth installment of Operation Tell Your Story was conducted May 4-5 when five Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, used their time between deployments to see the work government civilians at Anniston Army Depot are doing in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
OTYS is a quarterly program here, giving the workforce an opportunity to put a face on production and giving visiting Soldiers the rare chance to see how some of their equipment is overhauled and reset between deployments.
The 2BCT-1CD, which returned from deployment in December 2009, is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, where the Army trains more than 50,000 Soldiers at a time. For many Soliders in this unit, it was their second or third deployment.
For one of the Soldiers visiting from Fort Hood, OTYS was a homecoming.
1st Sgt. Phelan Curry, a Soldier for 20 years, was raised in nearby Lincoln where he played high school football and basketball. The depot, though he had never visited before, has always held a special place in his heart. His father worked at Anniston Army Depot, and his niece, BreAna Montgomery, is an electronics mechanic here.
Montgomery said though it's been about a year since she last saw her uncle, she talks on the phone to him or his wife every day. She was able to walk beside Curry on his tour of the depot. "We're a very close-knit family," she said.
Curry said he was very impressed with the operations and systems in place at ANAD. "I have a lot of respect for what goes on here," said Curry. "It's nice to come back to see family and friends, and I just want to say to everyone that I thank them for all the work they do here to support us."
Curry was here with Sgt. Francisco Salinas, Spec. Trevor Anderson, Spec. Jose Hernandez and Spec. Park Roberts.
"These Soldiers are an elite group of warfighters. They're the reason we come to work to do what we do every day," said Depot Commander Col. S. B. Keller.
The Soldiers mingled with depot employees throughout the Nichols Industrial Complex. Stops on their tour included the combat vehicle disassembly/assembly facility, Powertrain Flexible Maintenance Facility, Turbine Engine Value Stream, Small Arms Repair Facility, the turret assembly building, the Stryker repair and reset operations and the Career Academy.
"Knowing what you guys do to keep us safe makes me feel good," said Salinas, who has deployed three times.
"It's amazing to see how fast you can fix these vehicles and get them back overseas," said Anderson.
Keller presented command team coins to the Soldiers as they were completing their tour of the Stryker battle- and combat-damage repair facility.
"We repair the equipment like your life depends on it," Keller told the Soldiers.
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