This story originally ran in the Dec. 10, 2006, issue of the News-Miner.
After 16 months in Iraq — four of those on a grueling assignment in Baghdad — members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team are buying clothes, cars, electronics and booze, frequenting night clubs and providing a much-anticipated rousing to the local economy.
The shopping started almost immediately after the soldiers arrived at Fort Wainwright over a 16-day period from late November to early this month.
Many of the young, single soldiers had few civilian clothes to change into when they arrived in Fairbanks.
Awaiting them was a sprawl of new businesses in northwest Fairbanks near the Steese and Johansen Expressway that weren’t open when the brigade left in August 2005, including Old Navy and Sportsman’s Warehouse.
At Old Navy, store manager Luke Allegood said Dec. 2 there were at least 200 soldiers shopping in the store the day before.
With short haircuts, slight tans and wrinkled clothes, Allegood said the soldiers weren’t hard to spot.
“They look just as tired as can be,” he said.
Mostly, Allegood said the soldiers were snapping up casual tops, coats and pants — especially jeans.
“They’ve just ravaged the jeans,” he said, although the section was still well-stocked shortly after opening.
A few doors down at Sportsman’s Warehouse, store manager Doug Mason said he’s seen a marked increase in business in the last two weeks. He said the soldiers are buying everything from clothing to ice fishing gear to firearms.
“They come in here and it’s just like heaven for them,” he said.
Spc. Daniella Doerr and her fianc�, Spc. Shaun Schellenger, both of the 172nd, were in Sportsman’s Warehouse on Dec. 2 looking at firearms for Schellenger. All soldiers, who were required to carry weapons with them most of the time while in Iraq, turned them in upon landing at Eielson Air Force Base
“I carried one around long enough,” Doerr said of the couples’ firearms shopping trip. “But I guess he misses his.”
Sportsman’s Warehouse was Doerr’s second shopping stop when she arrived in Fairbanks one week ago. She wore the one civilian outfit she had, which included a T-shirt of Schellenger’s, to Old Navy for some clothes, and then to Sportsman’s Warehouse for more clothes and cold-weather gear like boots, snow pants and a jacket.
Later in the day, the couple was planning on shopping for furnishings for their new home, after lunch at Chili’s Grill & Bar, another place that’s seen a bump in business with the return of the brigade. Franchise partner John DeHaven said some days last week, almost half the restaurant’s sales were from military personnel.
“We expect the influx in business throughout the first of the year,” he said.
Jeremy Fillippi, manager at Gene’s Chrysler, said new car sales have been up, as have sales for home and vehicle audio equipment at Radio Shack/Interior Electronics, according to employee Alex Everett. A manager at Big Ray’s Store said stocking caps are a recent popular purchase for soldiers with short haircuts, trying to stave off the chill. Those same haircuts are sending soldiers to area barber shops in droves.
“On a Saturday, I’ll probably have at least five come in from the base since they came back,” said Jerry Wright, who owns JD Styles.
Eve Blake, a stylist at Kreative Kutz, described business there as “crazy busy.”
“We had a five-hour wait last week,” Blake said. “They were coming in with chopped-up haircuts. They’re glad to be back and get a real haircut.”
Some businesses started seeing the effects of the brigade’s return before the soldiers even began arriving. It was like Christmas shopping had started early at Linens and Lace when the wives and girlfriends of some of the estimated 3,800 soldiers began shopping in early November for lingerie for their sweethearts’ return, said manager Shanna Nelson.
When the waves of soldiers began arriving in later in the month, business only got better.
“We’ve been extremely busy in here every day,” Nelson said.
A supervisor at the Class VI liquor store on Fort Wainwright said the store has seen a major jump in revenue since the soldiers’ return.
On a Friday in late November, revenue estimates show the store sold four times the amount of alcohol compared with Fridays while the brigade was gone.
“We can’t keep it in here,” supervisor Judy Nickel said.
Reflections, a bar featuring topless dancers, dropped its cover charge temporarily as a thank you to the soldiers, said manager Connie Kerns.
While the soldiers were gone, business was slow, Kerns said. Now it’s swung to the opposite side of the pendulum.
“This week, with so many soldiers coming in, it’s busier than a normal December,” Kerns said.
Rick Mensik owns the night club Kodiak Jack’s and said business picked up noticeably the week after the soldiers returned, though it wasn’t as busy as he had hoped.
“It was good,” Mensik said. “It just wasn’t as significant as I thought it would be. I’m sure this weekend will be a different story, when they get rested up.”
Despite the increased in nightlife, local authorities said the soldiers are, for the most part, staying out of trouble with the law.
A magistrate at the Rabinowitz Courthouse said there’s no dramatic rise in the number of military members coming through. A sergeant with the Fairbanks Police Department said the agency is busier now that the soldiers are home, but reports of unruly people haven’t increased markedly.
“We’ve certainly seen an increase in our nightlife traffic,” said Sgt. Eric Jewkes said. “There’s been more people at the bars and dance clubs and places like that.”
Jewkes credited the military for establishing “courtesy patrols” or uniformed soldiers tasked with visiting area businesses and keeping an eye on off-duty soldiers, especially late at night.
“They’ve been at places to diffuse things before we even get there,” Jewkes said. “Most of them have been really nice and respectful and are behaving themselves.”
But Jewkes also echoed the sentiment many in the community feel in response to the soldiers’ return.
“They’ve earned their good time,” Jewkes said. “They’ve earned their night on the town.”
Staff writer Margaret Friedenauer may be reached at 459-7545 or mfriedenauer@newsminer.com. Staff writer Amanda Bohman may be reached at 459-7544 or abohman@newsminer.com.