Email   Print   Share By Gloria Harris, Hood Mobilization Bde.

Facebook Digg Delicious July 29, 2010 | News

Transitional Soldiers attached to the Hood Mobilization Brigade helped to install a flower bed border for future landscaping projects July 22 and Friday at the Texas Military Family Foundation. Working on the project are three transitional National Guard Soldiers from the 36th Sust. Bde., (from left) Spc. Roland Flores, Sgt. David Strickland and Sgt. Maj. Michael Siefert. All three Soldiers recently returned from a tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ann Ciarico, Hood Mobilization Bde.

Several transitional Soldiers attached to the Hood Mobilization Brigade recently got a chance to help other Soldiers and to show off their landscaping skills by building a border for a flower garden at the Texas Military Family Foundation. The Soldiers, members of the Texas National Guard’s 36th Sustainment Brigade, which recently returned from deployment, installed the border despite the heat July 22 and Friday. The project will allow other Soldiers, both active duty and reserve troops, to add to the garden during their transition time.

The idea behind the flower garden project, according to TMFF Director Julie Curtis-Winn, is to provide a therapeutic activity for Soldiers in transition. Previous transition Soldiers had planted bushes and peach trees around the TMFF site, located in Bldg. 4200 at the corner of 78th Street and Santa Fe Avenue.

The new flower bed will be improved upon.

“As the Soldiers come through here, those who want to do so can contribute their own creative landscaping input and the flowers will bloom on long after those Soldiers have left Fort Hood,” Curtis-Winn said.

The foundation is not just about gardening and flower beds. In fact, the external project is only one of many activities Soldiers can participate in when they visit.

Staffed by volunteers, TMFF offers a “homey” place for transitioning Soldiers to go for snacks, playing cards, stickers, phones and hugs of encouragement.

Volunteers also put together care packages for Soldiers whether they are in training, deployed or a single Soldier returning to the barracks.

The foundation also provides family members with small flags to wave during welcome home ceremonies.

“There’s a continuous involvement with TMFF and the HMB Soldiers,” said HMB Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Richard Brunk.

“I ask Julie for help to support our Soldiers four or five times a month and she calls on us to help with her projects,” he added.

According to Brunk, barracks living is sometimes too noisy and stressful for Soldiers suffering from the symptoms and problems associated with post traumatic stress disorder, hearing disorders or limited mobility.

Going to the mall or to the post exchange also can be stressful. TMFF, he added, is a place where they can relax.

At the TMFF, Brunk said, troops can be themselves. It also is a place to get help for problems that may not have been identified. The environment is non-judgmental and is a home away from home, he added.

With the perpetual influx of reserve-component transitional Soldiers, the Hood Mobilization Brigade always has a group of service men and women who have orders on hold due to medical problems, follow-on schools or for other reasons.

While biding their time until they leave for home or deploy, many of the Soldiers try to occupy their days with worthy projects. So, when the request for help to build the flower bed border was received, HMB accepted it right away.

“Any time HMB can support a great cause in order to provide healing for wounded warriors, I will always help,” said HMB Commander, Lt. Col. Jeff Hicks, who also has worked closely with the staff of TMFF for several years.

Sergeant Maj. Michael Siefert, who is one of the Soldiers attached to HMB, responded to the tasking and worked on the flower bed.

“If doing this kind of thing makes other people happy, I’m all for it,” he said, wiping sweat from his brow while pushing a concrete block into place at the job site.

Another Soldier who worked on the project was Spc. Rolando Flores. He, too, was temporarily attached to HMB and gladly agreed to work on the flower bed border project.

“It’s a lot better than just sitting around the barracks and doing nothing. I’d rather be doing something productive to help other people,” Flores said.

After all the work, the flower bed border had been completed. It was ready for the next stage of landscaping … and another group of transitioning Soldiers.