Loved ones bid farewell as Fort Bragg troops deploy
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- About 40 Fort Bragg troops bid farewell to loved ones Tuesday afternoon as their unit deployed to Kuwait.
The troops are a part of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, and will deploy for at least nine months.
The command will continue to work alongside soldiers based throughout the Middle East, offering support by way of transportation, clerical and food services duties.
"It's completely vital," said Specialist Jason Cairl, a 1st TSC soldier heading out on his first deployment.
"We're terribly important. The Army has to march on its stomach. I'm a cook myself, and so we provide support," he explained. "I'd say (support is) about 50% of what the Army needs because a war fighter can't fight on his own. We need a whole team."
Kamilla Carter explained Daddy's trip to her 3-year-old son, Mark Carter III. Until 2013, both she and her husband, Staff Sergeant Mark Carter, were active duty, and deploying at the same time.
Even with her experience and new status, it's not easy for Carter to see her husband off. Her son played with a box of kid-friendly deployment souvenirs, including a journal.
"(I) just want him to come home safe," Carter said through tears.
Staff Sergeant Armando Huerta and his wife Patricia have been through three deployments and an overseas tour in the past nine years.
"I've set up the Skype, Wi-Fi, calling, everything," Huerta and his wife laughed.
"Not only is he my best friend, but we're always together," said Patricia Huerta. "Now it's like I'm going to come home to an empty house."
"It gets tough, but it's all for a purpose, and it's a purpose we chose to do," she said.
One Wednesday, about 50 other 1st TSC troops will return to Fort Bragg from Kuwait. They deployed in November.
