Pilgrimage to Where It All Began: Fort Benning, GA: Home of the Infantry

It's been just about 16 years since I've stepped foot in Fort Benning, Georgia. This short and sweet trip felt like a journey to our army motherland. 

And really, it was.

When my husband first joined the army in 2006, he enlisted as an infantryman. He spent five months in Fort Benning; going through basic training and his MOS courses. 

I spent a measly day and a half in Fort Benning for his graduation(s) after flying into ATL and renting a car to get to the events. 

It really was a blur, looking back. I'm not sure I even know these people (meaning ourselves from the photos) any more!

We actually went to high school with this guy. The army really is a SMALL world!

Because new, baby soldiers, do not get to freely roam around, he never did get a chance to visit the National Infantry Museum back then, though this particular building came about in 2009. Hell, he wasn't even able to go to the commissary or PX. New soldiers then (don't know how it is now) aren't really able to do anything on post while in training. In fact, soldiers were kept separate from the general population on Fort Benning; contained in an area known as Sand Hill.

Honestly, I don't think a visit to the Infantry Museum would've meant as much back then as it does now.

On the same day as graduation, my husband was given orders to Fort Lewis, WA and a plane ticket. He literally had six hours to get to Atlanta and catch his plane to our first official duty station. This was also the day I learned where we'd be moving for our first army PCS.
Long story short, and skip ahead two years, out of Fort Lewis he deployed in 2009 with 2nd ID, 1-17th Infantry regiment, Headquarters.
It was during that deployment that so many lives had changed, and so many friends and army brothers did not return from Afghanistan alive. They were hit hard. We still don't completely talk about such things...

In 2011, my husband ended up reclassing to Signal (computer "cyber" shit), giving up his mortarman years on account of what could have later resulted in a medical board. But those years serving as an infantryman have never left his core. 

It's still who he is, and the infantry remains a large part of the very fabric of what keeps him going in the army now. I'll say this: the patch that has never left his right arm is 2nd ID, despite multiple deployments. Never. And I doubt his sewn on Combat Infantryman Badge will ever disappear as well.

That first Afghanistan tour in 2009-2010 was the ultimate reason we had to visit the National Infantry Museum. Call it reminiscing, paying respect or tribute, or what you will, it has been something he has always wanted to do. We are now within a day's trip from Ft. Benning, so we decided to make it our first official trip from Fort Gordon, staying the night in Columbus, GA. From Fort Gordon, it's about a realistic 3.5 hrs with multiple people in the car.

The museum appeared much larger than I thought it'd be.

Tied with the behemoth Mémorial de Caen in Normandy, France, this is probably the largest and most well-put together military museum we've seen in all of our travels; both in the U.S. and abroad. 

I expected the quality to be comparable to other museums we've seen on American installations. Slightly dingy, run-down, and smells a bit like mothballs. This was none of the sort! This museum was ginormous, state of the art, clean and highly organized. Just the visual appeal alone was on another level. And best of all, it is FREE. 

One of the things we did was pay very close attention to soldiers in photos around various galleries. There was truly no way of knowing for sure who was who in numerous photos scattered within the museum. But it kind of makes you wonder if someone you know could've had their photo snapped during basic training, or while at NTC, or even while deployed. Or if your own soldier is in one of the photos somewhere.

We only saw one giant picture hanging from the ceiling that could possibly be someone we know, and we're still unsure. I texted a picture of the picture to his wife and she "lol"ed but also was unsure. To be honest, most soldiers look like each other when dressed in full battle rattle. Maybe we'll never know? 

The galleries are beautiful in this place.
When entering from the ground floor, you walk through a darkened path that leads you from the trenches of WWII through other conflicts within American modern history. Exiting this, you hit an area of the museum that explains the process of enlisting in the infantry, as well as the day to day lives of new enlisted and officer recruits. 

There are tons of artifacts, both old and newer, to help visitors like myself (who have never been in the army or military) envision what basic training is like. 

Downstairs, there are several galleries, each dedicated to time lines; from the very beginning of Colonial America to modern day. Every conflict that American army infantry, cavalry or artillery was involved in can be found within the downstairs galleries. 

They even have a weird gallery dedicated to the families of soldiers; complete with a "broken household items" display. We found this pretty comical, considering our most recent move -number six, officially- was our first ever with broken and damaged items. Still in process of filing those claims!

One of the neatest rooms downstairs is dedicated to Medal of Honor recipients; with glass portraits of each hanging carefully in a timeline order. My son and I sat looking for Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge had an impact on my kid, thanks to Andrew Garfield). Despite looking him up in the interactive digital display (he was in there), we did not locate his photo among the others hanging, in the respective timeline. I later found out why: the recipients are in order of when they were presented the award, not when the incident occurred, and D. Doss was awarded posthumously in 2020. Now we know.

Back on the ground floor, there's a classy looking snack bar, a movie theater that plays random war movies, and a gift shop. Above this floor, there are conference rooms and a classy restaurant, which we did not visit.

Once outside and ready to leave, my husband was tweaking out. He stated that he didn't see one of the major things he'd come to see; the 1-17th Regiment's memorial...
From the parking lot, you'll notice a pathway of American state flags (which are in order of their statehood). We decided to walk through them towards a replica Vietnam Veteran's Memorial wall, and that's when we noticed some strange shapes far away, on the other side of the outdoor stage and field. Curious, we took the long walk towards that...

Here, kind of tucked away, is where many of the memorials for infantry regiments -involved in some sort of conflict- can be found. It wasn't hard to miss the 1-17th, considering it's a giant ass buffalo with big balls. I have never seen my husband more happy to pull his phone out and take pictures of something. Seriously. I doubt he even has a picture of me on his phone. 

Behind the regiment memorial area, you'll find dead tanks that folks can actually touch and climb on, though we're over it. Been there, done that. But it was funny to see some random army mom up on one with her little kids, making machine gun noises and theatrical sound effects. Good on her. I'm too old for that shit now-a-days!

We eventually made our way back to the car and headed onto post. We had no real direction but the Class Six and the PX. The PX was lackluster, but the Class Six had our wine for cheaper than Fort Gordon! This was a hotel essential.
We decided to make a pit stop to the commissary for some hotel snacks, and I am so glad we did.
This was the largest commissary I have ever seen, and probably one of the oldest.
The aisles were twice as long as any other commissary, and the store wider than two football fields. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but that's how it seemed.

One of the weirdest things about Fort Benning -that both my husband an I ogled over- was the fact that this post basically has it's own highway, with exits and overpasses. I can't begin to explain it, but it was SO BIZARRE. 
After our driving around, we headed back to our hotel, stopping at a TJ Maxx, Goodwill and Peach Tree Mall. All three were a bust, just sayin'. And the next morning, we headed back to Fort Gordon.
    

It may sound strange, but I enjoy seeing duty stations we are not stationed at, and have never visited, just to see how others live. This was not our first!

We have previously visited McChord AFB, WA (before it was a joint base), Fort Knox, KY, Fort Carson, CO, Caserma Ederle (Vicenza, Italy), Patch Barracks (Stuttgart, Germany), Ramstein AFB Germany, Landstuhl Army Base Germany, Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany, and I feel like there are a few I am missing, both stateside and abroad? Probably. 

Eventually we'll hit up Fort Stewart, GA, Fort Jackson, SC and most likely Fort Bragg, NC because of their proximity to us. Maybe even a few in Florida and Virginia are in the works...

If you have a chance to visit The National Infantry Museum, do so! You won't regret it and I am so very glad we had the opportunity to go ourselves. It was a very special family day and I look forward to the next.