SPRING GROVE, Minnesota (STPNS) -- SFC Keith Haugstad has returned to Spring Grove after serving a tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Kuwait. ?It?s great to be back,? he states, giving a thumbs-up gesture.

Haugstad serves with the 458th OD. (Ordnance) Company, Onalaska (Wisconsin) Army Reserve. ?We are classified as a collection and classification company. We pretty much run a junkyard,? he explained. ?We take junked military vehicles and take all good parts and put into bins for reuse.?

Haugstad was one of nine soldiers from the Onalaska center to be called up for deployment last summer. Reservists were first chosen from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, and then our unit was filled up with a cross level of 80 troops from as far away as Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Kentucky to meet the quota of 121. ?Thirteen were gals,? Haugstad added.



On July 8, 2005, they traveled from Onalaska to the mobilization site at Fort McCoy to train up, do medical evaluation, finance, legal, etc. ?Our mobilization prepared us for our mission of going into Iraq in case they needed to send us there.?

On Sept. 13, the soldiers departed from Volk Field, Camp Douglas, Wis., by military chartered civilian plane, a DC-10. Two flight stops were made before arriving at Kuwait City International Airport.

?When I stepped off the plane Sept. 14, it was 132 degrees,? he recalled. ?I can take heat, but that?s a little more than what I?m used to.?

The unit was assigned to Camp Arifjam ? Kuwait, sharing the post with 6,000 to 8,000 troops. The number of troops varies due to the overlap of troops coming in and others leaving.

?We were housed in pre-cast barracks ? metal buildings with cement floor,? he explained.

The ILUs (Individual Latrine Units) were located 75 feet away from the barracks. A sewage pumping truck came twice a day to pump out the latrines. ?It went off post, but I don?t know where they dumped it ? maybe in the Gulf,? he speculated with a slight laugh.

Four meals a day were served at the mess hall, located 300 yards away from the barracks.

?Pallets of bottled water sat outside the barracks. We used all bottled water for drinking. You?d get sick drinking their water."

The MWRC (Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center) on post had phone banks with 20 phones to be shared by all the troops on post. ?Kuwait is eight hours ahead [of Spring Grove?s time], and another hour ahead during Daylight Savings Time.?

Work assignment

?I started out as a night supervisor of a wash rack,? he explained about his first assignment after arriving.

?We worked from 6 or 7 in the morning to 6 p.m., 6-1/2 days a week. We got Sunday morning off to go to church, wash clothes, sleep in or whatever.

?The wash rack had 100 stalls/spaces and ran 24 hours a day. I worked eight hours within the time period from 6:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.

?All vehicles have to be super-clean, no soil/dirt on, before leaving country to go back to the States. It takes three to four weeks travel by ship to get the Humvees back to the United States.

?I did pre-inspections for almost two months, then another mission came up in December at the Heavy Lift Six, a Humvee refurbishing center. There I worked hand-in-hand with a civilian contractor hired by the Army to rebuild Humvees. One-third of the workers were Westerners, and two-thirds were local help hired.

?They have two places in Kuwait doing this, and we had trouble keeping up with demand in the north.

?The building is up about six feet from the ground, with loading ramps all the way around the building.

?Humvees that have been hit by IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) or RPGs (Rifle Propelled Grenades) come to us on truck.? After seeing the condition of the Humvees, they wondered how anyone lived through it.

?If it would take too many hours to work on, we would send it to the junkyard.

?Once the contractor fixed it (Humvee) all up, we do the final inspection before it went back into service again. We?d check it out ? look it over from head to toe. If there?s a wrong bolt, they have to get the right one. The mixture of antifreeze has to be changed when the weather changes.

?We would road test it, driving 17 miles on the rough desert to check the suspension. When we bring it back, it shouldn?t be over-heating. We?d let it [vehicle] sit to see if there were any seal leaks.

?Having our weapon and a cell phone with us is mandatory when we?re out to test.? While working in the refurbishing center, they were allowed to place their weapon in a room nearby.

About once a month, or whenever they got enough ready, they would load the Humvees on trucks and escort them to another base. ?One time we had 23 semi loads.?

"Normally travel took an hour and 15 minutes, but with trucks traveling at 40 to 50 mph, it took longer to reach our destination," Haugstad explained. After unloading, the Humvees were weighed on a scale, and measured for center of balance before going to the airport.

?This all took time. We always kept a case of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and water with us just in case.

?During the time I worked at Heavy Lift Six, we probably did inspection on 450 Humvees,? he estimated.

?I liked what I was doing. We got to leave post every day.

?The place we worked at was 10 miles off post. We would drive 30 MPH for a couple miles to the main gate, and then have to show authorization to get off base. Driving 60-70 MPH on the highway, it took about a half-hour to get to work.?

When they returned to the military post at the end of the workday, there were twice as much security inspection before entering the main gate, he explained. ?They?d open every compartment and check everywhere.?

During the workday, they didn?t take time to return to the base to get a meal. Haugstad would take along jerky that someone had sent him, or oatmeal packets that he could mix in hot water that was always available at the workplace. ?We didn?t eat as much for lunch.?

He didn?t drink plain water as it had no taste. Instead he would have some Crystal Light tea, which he likes.

Life halfway around the world

?Most Kuwaitis are very happy we?re here. They remember Sept. 11,? Haugstad pointed out.

Temperatures in Kuwait vary. In winter ? December to February, the high is 70 to 80 degrees, and the low about 48 degrees, damp and foggy, Haugstad reported.

Summer ? July to August ? is the hottest and is a dry heat. Next to the 132 degrees temperature when he arrived, the hottest they had was 127 when they left the country.

?By 8 or 9 in the morning the temperature was already up to 100 degrees. When I got back home, it was 92 degrees when I got off the plane.

?In the desert, there were days when the wind was blowing so hard you couldn?t see one-fourth mile. Sand gets into everything, and there would be sand drifts (like snow drifts) on the interstate.?

?The whole interstate is lit up like a street. Their electric bill must be pretty huge.? It was common to see herds of sheep along, and on the roadways, and sometimes the shepherd lay asleep under a tree.

?We wondered why the Kuwaiti people drive so crazy,? he stated. They learned that if the Kuwaitis get in an accident, they believe, ?It?s Allah?s will.? ?That?s quite a way to look at life.?

The troops had the opportunity to take sponsored one-day trips through MWR. ?Four people would have to bring weapons along just in case. We would wear civilian clothes ? plain, no sayings on t-shirts, no shorts,? Haugstad explained. The females had to cover themselves from head to toe.

He recalled going to a mosque that was huge and very ornate, and also Kuwaiti Towers. The science museum was pretty neat, he said.

They also visited two malls. City Center is a two-story mall. ?Kuwait doesn?t really have a sewer system,? he noted. The bathroom facility at the mall was a trough in the concrete floor with a hole for the commode. ?You squat over it. No toilet paper ? you use a hose to spray off. And?it smells bad.?

Al Kut Mall was smaller, but a nice mall with different shops. He purchased a variety of items, among them matching watches for himself and his wife, Carrie, and several beautiful, plush blankets. The purchases were shipped home in large black trunks.

The value of the U.S. dollar is only one-third of their dollar ?Dinar? (dollar). Their coin currency is called ?Fils?.

?The support shown us surprised me. People contacted Operation HomeFront and other Web sites to see how they could help the troops. 4-H clubs including the Black Hammer Swift Scooters sent Valentine cards, and I got a box from Pennsylvania ? from complete strangers.

Upon landing at Bangor, Main, people offered their cell phones so the troops could call home. By that time, many of the troops had already used the airport phones.

24-hour miracle

?Normally the military mandates ?boots-on-the-ground? for one year. We got to go home 1-1/2 months early because most of our missions were handed off to civilian contractors.

?It?s a 24-hour miracle. If I hadn?t left on July 27, the next day all flights would have been cancelled because of terrorist attempts."

Welcome home

?Thanks for the wealth of support people in the community have shown. The thank yous and welcomes really show up in a small town community. At National Night Out they gave me a standing ovation when I entered the Fest Building.

?Also thanks to Gary Johnson and Tom Solberg,? he added. Keith loves gardening, and when Carrie learned that her husband would be coming home early, Tom helped plant the garden.

The couple proudly showed this reporter what is growing and that they look forward to eating the produce.

Norval and Janet Britain, who live across the street, decorated their own yard with yellow ribbons and signs. For the welcome home, the Britains decorated the Haugstads? yard and house. ?They lined our sidewalk with flags and ribbons,? Keith reported.

After the troops returned, the 458th Family Readiness Group and the Coulee Region chapter of Operation HomeFront held a ?Welcome Home? celebration at the Onalaska Omni Center on Aug. 1. Carrie is leader of the readiness group and was awarded a black attaché case for her 1,000 hours of volunteer service.

After taking a family trip to the Black Hills, spending time with family and friends, and getting reintegrated during the first month home, he has now gotten back into the bowling scene. ?I hadn?t touched a bowling ball in more than a year, except when I was home on leave in January,? the avid bowler commented.

Haugstad has served 30 years with the military. Sept. 23 will be the four-year anniversary working as a civilian military technician. He returned to work on Sept. 5.