Talon troops team up for community service

Photo By Staff Sgt. April Campbell | Sgt. Brian Buskirk, right, holds up the base of an A-frame while Sgt. Scott Anderson, left, fits a wheel on the structure the two are helping to build for the new Fayetteville Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Bragg Boulevard, Sept. 27. In addition to constructing equipment to move and store building supplies, Buskirk, Anderson and other soldiers from Company E, 3-82 General Support Aviation Battalion, unloaded containers of donated furniture and painted the store’s exterior. Scheduled to open Oct. 19, the ReStore will raise funds for future homes the organization builds in the Fayetteville area. Mark Hammond, the volunteer coordinator for the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity, said approximately 60 percent of the 700 to 800 volunteers he works with every year are service members.  

FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

09.27.2013

Story by Staff Sgt. April Campbell 

82nd Combat Aviation Brigade

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – By 5:30 a.m. every weekday, the headlights of cars can be seen in the communities surrounding Fort Bragg as soldiers line up at the gates to get on post and start their days.

Many of them, busy training, will not be seen driving back out to their homes until 5 p.m. or later. In spite of their full training schedules on post, many of these troops actively seek to serve in the surrounding community whenever possible.

That service became a unit affair for the troopers of one 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade company who spent the day renovating a Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Bragg Boulevard, Sept. 27.

Capt. Robert Wall, commander, Company E, 3-82 General Support Aviation Battalion, and his wife, Michelle, helped to set up the volunteer project. Together, 30 of Wall’s soldiers painted the exterior, unloaded containers of donated furniture, and built useful equipment to move and store donated lumber and other building material.

“The project gave our soldiers an opportunity to be productive in the Fayetteville community and strengthen our team at the same time,” said Wall.

The team they have established accomplishing their missions at Fort Bragg may have been a draw for some of the troopers who helped set up the store.

“It’s more fun and motivating to come as a unit because we can joke around with each other and help those in need,” said Staff Sgt. Camille Cage.

Cage, who fuels helicopters with the 82nd CAB, only recently transferred to Fort Bragg from Germany.

“I volunteered a lot when I was in Germany because it was a nice change of pace from the day-to-day operations,” Cage said. “This has been my first opportunity to do this since moving to Fort Bragg.”

Like Cage, many soldiers at Fort Bragg are new arrivals and some do not stay for more than a few years. In spite of their somewhat transient status, these citizen warriors have a lot to offer the community.

Mark Hammond, the volunteer coordinator for the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity, said approximately 60 percent of the 700 to 800 volunteers he works with every year are service members.

“I love working with military members because teamwork is already instilled in them,” Hammond said.

The ReStore, which will sell donated furniture and construction material to raise funds for the Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity, is scheduled to open Oct. 19.

Hammond has seven more renovation projects scheduled before the store opens. His volunteer sign-up sheets are full - many of the slots filled by the busy service members driving in and out of the gates at Fort Bragg every morning and evening.

• Date Taken: 09.27.2013
• Date Posted: 10.02.2013 16:36
• Story ID: 114626
• Location: FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US