4th ID officially returns to Fort Carson

The 4th Infantry Division marked its long-awaited return to Fort Carson on Wednesday, bringing with it 6,500 soldiers due on post by Labor Day and a new leadership team to run the post.

The division moved from Fort Hood, Texas, where it had been stationed since 1995. Fort Carson has nearly doubled in population since 2003, growing from 14,000 soldiers to 26,000 by the end of this year.

The ceremony was a time for celebration for the division’s top enlisted soldier.

“I feel like I’ve won the lottery,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey, who has served at units at Fort Carson since 2001 and now has an office on the top floor of the new headquarters building opened Wednesday.

Dailey will help Maj. Gen. David Perkins run the division and the post in an organizational shift that moved the lead role from Maj. Gen. Mark Graham.

A Pentagon report issued last week may make that change a mixed blessing for the new guys. A team of Army researchers found that a string of homicides attributed to Fort Carson soldiers since 2005 revealed problems in drug treatment, leadership and mental health counseling that may have contributed to the violence.

Dailey said soldier and family issues are the top priority for the new leadership team.

The arrival of the division follows a $1.2 billion building boom at the post.

Graham said nearly three-quarters of the 6,500 troops expected this summer have arrived, with the rest coming in at a rate of more than 100 per day.

In addition to the new arrivals, Fort Carson is welcoming home 3,800 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division who have spent the past year in Iraq.

The first contingent from that brigade is due home this week, with the rest filtering back through August.

That will leave the post with just one deployed brigade and more soldiers at home than have been here since the start of the Iraq war in 2003.

Perkins, the new commander of the post, said Colorado Springs is the perfect place to house all those troops: “Colorado Springs is legendary in the U.S. Army for giving support to soldiers and their families.”