Spc. Shawn Jones, 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, left, gets help from Spc. Antigona Boatwright, 38th Personnel Service Battalion, right, to get a new identification card during reintegration training Monday in Bamberg, Germany. (Rick Emert / S&S)
BAMBERG, Germany — For 1st Infantry Division soldiers coming off of a year of combat in Iraq, returning home can be a shock to the system.
To help them adjust, soldiers go through a mandatory reintegration process consisting of seven half-days that cover everything from driving safety to medical screenings; all the things soldiers must take care of before going on leave, said Patricia Seaman, manager of the Inprocessing Training Center and Central Processing Facility who oversees the reintegration for soldiers on Warner Barracks.
The process begins with a day of required duties, such as registering vehicles and getting a meal card.
On Day 2, soldiers gather for briefings and videos on combat stress, winter driving safety and driving in Europe. The driving safety videos are required before soldiers can get their vehicles out of storage, Seaman said.
Day 3 is set aside for soldier and family discussions at the Family Life Center. There are three sessions: couples reunion, reunion with family and friends and communicating with children. While the first and third sessions are geared toward married soldiers, the middle session can be helpful to single soldiers.
“Single soldiers have reintegration issues, too,” said Chap. (Maj.) Larry Pundt, Family Life chaplain for Warner Barracks. “There are combat stress issues as well as changes in relationships with girlfriends or with their pals. Sometimes it’s like starting all over again.
“A soldier who may have been [a single soldier’s] best friend downrange where everybody is ‘single,’ now is back with his family. It can be difficult to adjust to that.”
Day 4 is a catchall for everything from personnel and finance issues to medical and dental screenings, Seaman said.
On Day 5, soldiers visit the dental clinic for full exams and X-rays.
Day 6 is delivery of household goods for single soldiers living in the barracks or married soldiers whose families returned to the States during the deployment, Seaman said.
The final day, or “any day,” is a make-up day for soldiers who missed part of the process. For those who have finished, it’s a day of leisure at Morale, Welfare and Recreation facilities with free bowling or computer time at the Community Activity Center among other things, Seaman said.
“This is a deliberately slow process to help the soldiers get it done without being stressed,” Seaman said. “They must be at their place of duty during the reintegration, but the schedule is half-days so they have time to spend with their families, too.”
Apparently the system is working.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” said Staff Sgt. Norman Hunter, 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery, who returned from Iraq on Saturday. “It takes seven days, but it gets us in the mind frame that we are not in Iraq anymore.”
Although he didn’t like the idea of the reintegration running over the weekend, Sgt. Eric Gyamfi, also from 1-6 Field Artillery, liked the idea of getting it done before going on leave.
“Then, you know that everything is taken care of and you don’t have to worry about it,” he said.
