FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – Advanced individual training Soldiers are able to spend the holiday season with their families as a result of a well-orchestrated Holiday Block Leave operation on Dec. 20, 2021, prioritizing travel safety and mitigating COVID-19 health risks.
Eifler Fitness Center was a maze of stations, each manned for tasks specific to facilitate a Soldier’s travel plan.
Every Soldier’s journey home for the holiday season started by following a red line in a path on the floor. A one-way street to process essential paperwork and finalize details for some well-deserved leave and time home with family.
With help from drill sergeants and cadre, some trainees and students loaded buses to Tucson International Airport, and some met their family at Chaffee Parade Field.
“I am riding with my buddies to see them off at the airport, then I am on my way home,” said Pvt. 1st Class Quinton Munerlyn, a trainee in Charlie Company, 305th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Munerlyn relaxed while concentrating on his travel plans and seeing his family, taking a seat on the bleachers at Eifler Fitness Center.
From Tucson International Airport, Munerlyn drove to San Antonio, Texas, and spent Christmas and New Year’s Day celebrating with his family.
The U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence executed a movement plan delivering more than 1500 Soldiers, including Munerlyn, to destinations worldwide for the holiday season.
“It makes me feel good,” said Staff Sgt. Joseph Sarnacki, 305th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Sarnacki assisted with travel operations for the AIT Soldiers at Chaffee Parade Field.
“These Soldiers put in a lot of work, especially the ones attending the schoolhouse.”
Sarnacki added how great it is to see them meet their families for the holidays.
“I was watching a few Soldiers hugging their mother, father or their spouse,” Sarnacki said. “It’s a great feeling to be part of this community and this unit.”
“The brigade has done a great job applying lessons learned from conducting 2020’s Holiday Block Leave during COVID-19,” remarked Maj. Gen Anthony Hale, commanding general of U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence & Fort Huachuca.
Hale confidently emphasized that USAICoE, 111th Military Intelligence Brigade and the community created the troop movement plan considering all COVID-19 measures in 2020.
“Adhering to rehearsals with procedures enhanced in 2021 allowed cadre and drill sergeants to streamline measures for safe departures,” Hale said.
“We have great support from this community,” Hale added.
USAICoE and Fort Huachuca emphasize COVID-19 mitigation measures for all Soldiers before, during and upon return from the two-week hiatus, Hale explained.
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/
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