Gold Rush Cheerleaders visit 728th MP Bn

Hawaii Army Weekly
Pfc. Marcus Fichtl
February 3, 2011

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — San Francisco 49ers “Gold Rush” cheerleaders visited Soldiers assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 728th Military Police Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, to witness the final battalion muster before the unit deploys to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, here, Jan. 29.

While many of the other cheerleaders were looking forward to sleeping in or going to the beach, cheerleaders Elizabeth Dubach, Jasmin Linares, Rachel Marks, Jennifer Hayes and Chris Rhyu jumped at the opportunity to find a deeper experience.

They volunteered to visit Soldiers.

“We were sitting at dinner, and we got an e-mail asking for cheerleaders to support deploying Soldiers,” Marks said. “We said immediately, ‘sign up, sign up!’”

“There was no question about it; we were available,” Hayes said. “Within one minute of us being asked, we were all ready to go.”

During the ceremony, Brig. Gen. David Phillips, MP regimental general, presented medals and coins to the Soldiers. Also, the battalion named Maj. Robert Green, commander, Training Command, Honolulu Police Department, as an honorary 728th MP Bn. “War fighter.”

The cheerleaders said they felt like honorary warfighters during Green’s speech, when he thanked the battalion for the honor.

“I felt like he was talking about me, and (I) related with him in every way,” Marks said.

“They play the national anthem at the start of every game; it’s a link that everyone has to each other,” Rhyu said, about how the national anthem was played at the beginning of the ceremony.

The cheerleaders gathered around one Soldier as he took re-enlistment vows during the muster.

After the ceremony, the cheerleaders and Soldiers took group photos, signed battalion posters and wished each other well.

“I told everyone I knew that cheerleaders came out to support us before we deployed; (I told) my mom, my brothers and my friends,” said Spc. Louis Williams, HHD, 728th MP Bn., 8th MP Bde. “Some were surprised, some were jealous, but they all told me how awesome and great the cheerleaders’ support was.

“That they took time out of their day to support us before we deployed was awesome,” Williams continued. “All I can say is ‘thanks.’”

“For a lot of our fans, it’s ‘wow I got to meet a cheerleader,’ but when we came out here, it’s the opposite. It’s ‘wow we got to meet Soldiers.’ It’s special for us,” Rhyu said.

“You could see and feel the camaraderie of everybody, when the Soldiers were doing little things like saying ‘hooah’ in unison,” Linares said. “I felt something (special).”

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Marks said. “We’ve never had this experience before, and I don’t know many who have.

“It was just awesome and an honor that we were able to come,” she added. ?