A color casing ceremony involves packing up a units flags for the trip. Credit: Army Photo by Sam Shore
As a final formal ceremony before leaving for West Africa, Fort Campbell soldiers cased their colors on Tuesday, essentially boxing up their unit flags until they arrive in Liberia for a six-month stay.
Some 700 members of the 101st Airborne Division will fly to Monrovia in the coming days to build Ebola treatment centers. Soldiers have been told they should not come into direct contact with the population, where one in 100 is assumed by the military to be infected.
Sgt. 1st Class Inmundo Tucker says his wife and kids are as nervous about this deployment as they’ve been for his combat tours.
“They really don’t want me to go, to be honest with you. They really don’t,” Tucker says. “But that’s with every deployment though. Your family, they’re always concerned about your safety and your well-being. If I’m not at home, then I’m in harms way, to them.”
Defense department officials said late last week soldiers would not get the same pay benefits they get in combat zones, which include tax-free earnings and hostile fire pay. The Pentagon has approved an additional $150 a month, and as much as another $250 a month for those soldiers leaving behind families.
SFC Inmundo Tucker (right) is a combat engineer deploying to Liberia to help build hospitals. Last week, soldiers practiced donning infection protection gear. Credit: Blake Farmer / WPLN
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