FORT LEE, Va. – Looking forward to seeing family and eating good food was the sentiment of many Soldiers as they headed home for the holidays Dec. 17-20 from U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command advanced individual training schools at Fort Lee, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Fort Eustis, Virginia, and Fort Gordon, Georgia.
CASCOM continues its annual holiday tradition of pausing AIT during the holiday season. The trainees have the option to leave AIT for the two-week holiday period, providing an opportunity to reconnect Soldiers with their families and to share their Army story with the public and their communities.
“Each of the five CASCOM schools – Quartermaster School, Ordnance School, Transportation School and Army Sustainment University, mainly at Fort Lee, and the Soldier Support Institute, Fort Jackson, provide a movement plan covering check-in locations at local rail and bus stations and airports,” said Danielle Duncan, CASCOM G3/5/7 Holiday Block Leave project officer. “The CASCOM schools at Forts Eustis, Gordon and Leonard Wood join with other Army AIT schools for movement plans, but we track all of the Sustainment Soldiers departing.”
More than 40,000 Soldiers from across the U.S., including approximately 8,000 from CASCOM schools at all training locations, take to the air and roads this holiday season to reconnect with their families and friends.
“It's been eight or nine months, I've been away from home because I got injured in my BCT (Basic Combat Training),” said Pvt. Yasmine Kaur, a 92A Automated Logistical Specialist student, heading to family in New York. “The first thing I’m doing is eating some nice food and then some shopping.”
Many Soldiers were happy for the assistance from the CASCOM movement team.
“I'm not used to traveling by myself, and so I like that they are helping us through that,” said Pfc. Isaac Tatton, a 91F Small Arms/Towed Artillery Repairer student heading to his hometown in Idaho. “I’m very close to my family and haven’t seen them since August.
“We all live in the town I grew up in,” added Tatton, who joined the Army after talking to an elderly neighbor who told him that one of his regrets in life was that he never served in the military. “I’m very excited. I'm hoping for just a little bit of snow, but not enough that I have to shovel.”
For Soldiers who choose not to go home, each post will host events.
“At Fort Lee, CASCOM staff, in coordination with U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee, has planned and scheduled multiple activities for AIT Soldiers that choose not to take leave during HBL to include FMWR (Family, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) events, special meals, and religious services,” Duncan said. “The health and safety of our Soldiers, trainees, cadre, and families is our top priority, regardless if Soldiers choose to take leave or not, is a time for them to reset and recharge.”
The Soldiers will return from holiday block leave by Jan. 6, and training will resume Jan. 7.
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