Fort Wainwright

The soldiers of the 472nd Military Police Company are scheduled to return to Fort Wainwright Friday. Their unit is returning from an eight-month deployment to Iraq's Al-Anbar Province.  The soldiers were deployed to train Iraq's police force and empower a safe, secure and self-sustaining country. The unit is expected to arrive early Friday morning at Eielson Air Force Base. A bus will bring the soldiers to Fort Wainwright's administrative holding area, where family and friends will be waiting to greet them.

A pressure-plate improvised explosive device killed a noncommissioned officer from the Fort Wainwright 1 st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25 th Infantry Division Sunday in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Sgt. Timothy Douglas Sayne, 31, from Reno, Nev. Served as a cavalry scout with the 5 th Squadron, 1 st Cavalry Regiment, 1 st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25 th Infantry Division. Sayne has been an Army soldier since February 2008. He graduated from Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Know, Ky. and arrived at Fort Wainwright in August 2008.

Fort Wainwright is pairing up with a local recycler to create a recycling program. K and K Recycling positioned four bins near the commissary last week for residents and employees to drop their recyclable materials into. Officials have been working with the company to develop the program and plan to expand it by adding three more collection points. The new recycling bins should be in place by October. North Haven Communities, another partner, will help keep residents informed and offer recycling tips.

A rise in births on Fort Wainwright has officials expecting the post to see more births in the first half of 2013 than in all of 2012, following the 2012 arrival of a major unit home from Afghanistan. About 4,000 soldiers with the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division returned from its tour of duty in April, setting the stage for this year's bumper crop of births -- with many of the Army families seeing their first children. “The post-deployment baby boom was anticipated by hospital staff and confirmed when the lab recorded 90 positive pregnancy tests in one day,” Fort Wainwright spokesperson Connie Storch said in a Tuesday statement.

In a few days, emergency responders will run through an exercise testing crisis preparedness on Fort Wainwright. The training exercise, dubbed "Ice Fog" will run from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1, Monday until next Friday. The U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Wainwright will be joined by responders from the City of Fairbanks, the Alaska Division of Forestry, and the Bureau of Land Management, among others, to evaluate its capabilities and plan for the base. People who work, visit or live on Fort Wainwright may see emergency vehicles or experience delays or access restrictions.

Two Fort Wainwright Strykers died in Afghanistan Wednesday when their unit was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province, according to Gov. Sean Parnell's office. U.S. ArmyAlaska spokesperson Lt. Col. Bill Coppernoll says Spc. James R. Burnett Jr., 21, and Pfc. Matthew C. Colin, 32, both served as infantrymen with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Wainwright. Burnett, a native of Wichita, Kan., joined the Army in April 2008, completed basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. and arrived at Fort Wainwright in August 2010.

  On Thursday the Chen family shared new information at a press conference about Danny Chen's death. Chen was a soldier based at Fort Wainwright, who apparently committed suicide in Afghanistan. A spokesperson for the family said Army officials told them Wednesday the 19-year-old was subject to abuse and excessive exercises - mistreatment that his family claimed ultimately led to his death. “Rocks were thrown at him to simulate artillery coming at him. He was subjected to racial slurs,” said Elizabeth Ouyang from the Organization of Chinese Americans.

Fort Wainwright is preparing to auction off some military surplus described as “unusual” by government officials: 30,000 pounds of used cooking grease from meals cooked at the Fairbanks base, which will be disposed of in a liquidation sale. “Looking to stock up on bio-diesel fuel for your alternative fuel or diesel vehicle?” wrote Melissa Gieringer, a spokesperson for online auction place Government Liquidation, in a notice to media announcing the sale. “No need to beg for a gallon or two of used vegetable oil from your local fast food restaurant when you could have 30,000 pounds of it readily available.” The Fairbanks area has a history of interest in alternative energy sources, which are celebrated every summer during the Chena Renewable Energy Fair at Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks.

On Friday, the leaders of U.S. Army Alaska held a listening session in a classroom at the UAA Fine Arts building. They listened to those who feared the effects of the military's 2011 Budget Control Act, which will reduce the total number of soldiers from 570,000 to 490,000. According to the military, the pending cuts nothing to do with the base realignment closure or sequestration. "What we're trying to do right now is be as transparent as possible in our efforts to reduce our force structure," US Army Alaska Commander Michael Garrett said.

A Fort Wainwright soldier struck by a truck hauling logs in a January Richardson Highway crash at a lodge near Salcha died of his injuries Wednesday, according to the Army. U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson John Pennell says Spc. Zachary New, 21, died at the Audie L. Murphy Veterans Affairs Hospital's Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in San Antonio, Texas. He was a member of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, reporting to Fort Wainwright in October 2010 and deploying with the unit to Afghanistan from April 2011 to April 2012.

A rise in births on Fort Wainwright has officials expecting the post to see more births in the first half of 2013 than in all of 2012, following the 2012 arrival of a major unit home from Afghanistan. About 4,000 soldiers with the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division returned from its tour of duty in April, setting the stage for this year's bumper crop of births -- with many of the Army families seeing their first children. “The post-deployment baby boom was anticipated by hospital staff and confirmed when the lab recorded 90 positive pregnancy tests in one day,” Fort Wainwright spokesperson Connie Storch said in a Tuesday statement.

In a few days, emergency responders will run through an exercise testing crisis preparedness on Fort Wainwright. The training exercise, dubbed "Ice Fog" will run from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1, Monday until next Friday. The U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Wainwright will be joined by responders from the City of Fairbanks, the Alaska Division of Forestry, and the Bureau of Land Management, among others, to evaluate its capabilities and plan for the base. People who work, visit or live on Fort Wainwright may see emergency vehicles or experience delays or access restrictions.

A Delta Junction man escaped with minor aches and pains after Alaska State Troopers say his van was rear-ended by two other vehicles on the Richardson Highway Monday, including a U.S. Army Stryker armored personnel carrier. A Tuesday AST dispatch says troopers arrived at the crash, at the Richardson's intersection with Jack Warren Road, just before 11:30 a.m. Steven Booth, 51, was driving a 1999 Chevrolet van south on the highway, followed by an M1126 Stryker from Fort Wainwright carrying five people.

The final court case has been resolved involving a soldier accused of causing Private Danny Chen's suicide in 2011. 1st Lieutenant Daniel Schwartz was charged with eight counts of dereliction of duty after Chen shot himself last December, according to the Army in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Army said Chen was hazed by Schwartz and seven soldiers before he killed himself in Afghanistan. Schwartz will leave the military, instead of judicial punishment. The resolution of Schwartz's case was the last of the eight cases where soldiers were accused of hazing and maltreatment of Chen.

A Fort Wainwright solider and a Fairbanks woman were killed Friday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash on the Parks Highway, according to Alaska State Troopers. 25-year-old Shawn Dugan, of Homestead, Iowa, and 33-year-old Sandy Graetzch were declared dead on the scene after he lost control in a hilly section near Milepost 336.5 on the Parks Highway. The crash happened just before 3:30 p.m. Friday and troopers said Dugan slid in front of a Chevy Avalanche heading northbound and the pickup truck ended up t-boning the car. The people inside the truck were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

An Army combat medic assigned to a Fort Wainwright hospital died in Fairbanks Monday after collapsing during physical training, according to U.S. Army Alaska officials. Sgt. 1st Class Bryan H. Hays, 40, was taken from Melaven Gym after being treated at the scene to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Hays, born in Bossier, La., entered active-duty Army service in 1999. He most recently served as the noncommissioned officer in charge of emergency services at Bassett Army Community Hospital, and had previously served two tours of duty in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Army has named the Fort Wainwright soldier who died after receiving a severe head injury Sunday. U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson Charles Canterbury says Spc. Marvin Kenneth Scott, 21, was found in his barracks room early Sunday morning. He was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead. Scott was assigned to Fort Wainwright's 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment as an air traffic control operator. He joined the Army in 2008, completing basic training and air traffic controller training before arriving at Fort Wainwright in mid-2009.

In early March, the Elkins family received an early morning call from Afghanistan where their 23-year old son James, was serving in his first deployment. James Elkins, a platoon leader with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Wainwright, deployed in January. The third generation Alaskan had wanted to serve in the military since high school. “You get a phone call at 1 a.m. you pretty much expect nothing good,” said Brent Elkins, James' father.