Dustoff detachment returns from downrange

By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-PfalzAugust 25, 2014

Welcome Back
1 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Welcome Back
2 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sara Kautzmann and daughter Preslee welcome home Chief Warrant Officer 2 Colter Kautzmann. Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, returned Aug. 19 from a deployment to Kuwait. The unit, which is moving to Grafenwöhr, ho... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Welcome Back
3 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Welcome back
4 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Welcome Back
5 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Welcome Back
6 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, returned Aug. 19 from a deployment to Kuwait. The unit, which is moving to Grafenwöhr, hosted a welcoming ceremony -- marking the last time medevac Soldiers redeploy to Landstuhl's... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Welcome Back
7 / 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption –
Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, returned Aug. 19 from a deployment to Kuwait. The unit, which is moving to Grafenwöhr, hosted a welcoming ceremony -- marking the last time medevac Soldiers redeploy to Landstuhl'... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army)
VIEW ORIGINAL

LANDSTUHL, Germany - Filled with anticipation, Sara Kautzmann clock-watched throughout the early hours of the morning on the day her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Colter Kautzmann, was due home.

She'd check the time. Then, she'd check her phone for any delay. Her pooch, Bucky, a Pomeranian and Jack Russell mix, stirred as if knew something was up. Then daughter Preslee, a toddler with bright eyes, woke early too.

"We were wide awake and just in a happy mood all morning," Sara Kautzmann said. "Everyone knew, "Daddy's coming home.'"

Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, returned Aug. 19 from a deployment to Kuwait. The unit, which is moving to Grafenwöhr, hosted a welcoming ceremony -- marking the last time medevac Soldiers redeploy to Landstuhl's heliport.

As families and fellow Soldiers awaited for troops to arrive, Susana Montes helped her children, Isaiah, 4, and Abigail, 10 months, hold up a brightly-painted poster they made for Chief Warrant Officer 3 Carlos Montes, a unit Black Hawk helicopter pilot. Isaiah had stamped his painted handprints. But, little Abigail wouldn't keep her tiny hand open, so she contributed with colored footprints.

During the ceremony, the troops marched into the hangar. Standing in formation, Sgt. Phillip Gray tried not to look toward his wife, Kristen, and their daughter, Rosie. Being so close, yet still unable to embrace them was tugging at his heartstrings. Holding back the emotions was hard, he said.

The chaplain said a prayer. The commander kept his comments brief. Gray just had to get through singing the Army Song, one final task, before he could rush over to them.

Then, Capt. Michael Chase, who led the detachment during the Kuwait deployment, gave the final order of the morning, "Dismissed!" Smiling families collided with camouflage-clad troops, sharing tears of joy, hugs and kisses.

Gray, a flight medic who also deployed with the 1st Infantry Division to Iraq in 2010, knelt down beside his daughter Rosie. Sometimes, it takes a minute or two for the younger children to warm up to that uniformed parent that's been gone. But after a couple of hugs and a kiss or two, they catch on. Then, it's all smiles.

"I missed her first birthday. I missed the first time she crawled. I missed her first time she said, "Da-Da, Mommy and bye-bye,'" Gray said. "Today is the first time I heard her say "Da-Da" in person, so it's a pretty big thing."

During the week following their return, the Soldiers undergo reintegration activities offered by U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz. Then, they are moving on. The unit recently ceased flight operations in Landstuhl. Soldiers from the company are now spreading out, said Sgt. 1st Class Jesus Madrid, a unit NCO.

Some are standing up the new medical evacuation unit at Grafenwöhr, others are supporting sister aviation units in Wiesbaden and Ansbach. Some troops will return to stateside assignments, while others will report to the 21st Theater Sustainment Command in Kaiserslautern, he said. Despite that, recognizing returning Soldiers was important to the unit, Madrid said.

"It's a multi-faceted arena right now, with everything going on and people doing different things," Madrid said. "But, it's the end of the era. So we're going to welcome these guys back and put closure to the legacy of Charlie Company."

Army medical evacuation helicopters have flown from the hilltop behind Landstuhl since 1952. Company C's lineage dates back to 1968 in Vietnam. In 1989, the unit moved to Landstuhl as the 236th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), deploying to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Storm and Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor. They also supported disaster relief operations in Europe.

In 2004 and in 2007, the unit served in Iraq. The 236th furled its colors and the unit became Company C, 1-214th Aviation Regiment. Two years ago the unit's Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan. In April 2014, a detachment from the company launched from Landstuhl, to work in Kuwait.

"We have a long legacy of medevac operations out of Landstuhl," Madrid said. "This is bringing it to an end."

Related Links:

U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz Facebook

U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz Photo Gallery

U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz YouTube