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March 9, 2012 - Brothers, Spc. Duane
Vinson (left) and Sgt. Bryan Vinson (right), returned to Fort Bragg
after a nine-month deployment. The brothers who are both assigned to
1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat
Team, 82nd Airborne Division, deployed with the same battalion but
only saw each other five or six times throughout the nine-month
deployment. Photo by Army Sgt. Terrance Payton
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. (3/9/2012) – Paratroopers with 1st
Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 3rd
Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division returned home
throughout February, concluding a nine-month deployment to
Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The recent redeployment ceremony at Green Ramp, was one
of many held to welcome home nearly 700 Paratroopers as they
reunite with family and friends.
Among the returning
troopers were brothers, Sgt. Bryan Vinson and Spc. Duane
Vinson, who are both infantrymen and assigned to Company C,
1st Battalion, 505th PIR.
Duane, who is a squad
automatic weapon gunner, was excited to deploy with his
brother whom he looks to as a role model.
“We were
extremely close growing up,” said Bryan, a team leader in
3rd Platoon. “We grew up playing sports and always looking
out for each other. Honestly, we've almost been
inseparable.”
The boys, who are from Hendersonville,
Tenn., said that they share a special relationship with
their father who spent time in the Army as a cavalry scout
and is also named Duane. |
“He made sure that we stayed
close to each other. He taught us a lot about being men and
a lot about being soldiers,” said Duane.
“He
understands the kind of bond that you share with fellow
soldiers,” said Bryan. “To see him and be able to share our
experiences with him; he has an understanding of what were
talking about, that's what so great about him being prior
service.”
Bryan, who has been at Fort Bragg for
about a year longer than his brother, said that he worried
about his younger brother.
“As an older brother I
naturally feel protective of him,” said Bryan. “I never
really understood how my parents felt about me being here or
deploying until he came here and we were deploying
together.”
Their parents had natural concern for the
boys while they were gone. They said that their father dealt
with the deployment well, and helped their mother deal with
the absence of her sons.
“My mother was nervous but
she was almost happy that we would be deploying together,”
said Duane. “She felt that if we deploy together that there
would be chances that we would see each other and be able to
watch out for each other.”
The brothers said they saw
each other about five or six times during the nine-month
deployment as they both were in northern Afghanistan.
“We really didn't have the capability to contact each
other. It was more knowing when our teams were going to
certain areas that we would cross paths,” said Duane.
“It was almost exciting because sometimes we would go
out and not know that the other would be somewhere and run
into each other,” said Bryan. “It was a real uplifting thing
to see him.”
“It was like a piece of back home over
there. I could tell him stories like old times,” said Duane.
“It definitely helped.”
Duane said that they already
had a great relationship but the deployment brought them
even closer.
“We grew up in a good family and have
been extremely close our entire lives,” said Bryan. “We
already had a strong bond, but being here together and
deploying together that bond has increased tenfold.”
“Yeah I have my biological brother here with me but none of
this deployment would have been possible without the guys in
our company, leaders and the guys who followed us,” said
Bryan. “We were out there together but those guys looked
after us. We couldn't have done any of this deployment or
this job without the support of any of those people.”
By Army Sgt. Terrance Payton
4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd
Airborne Division Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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