Fort Wainwright welcomes soldiers returning from Iraq

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska (AP) -- In the corner of a building as large as an aircraft hangar, Maria Dudley waited for her husband to return from a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

Dudley held their 8-month-old daughter, Delisa, born while Staff Sgt. Jamie Dudley listened on the telephone from the combat zone. Three-year-old Bianca slept on a chair nearby.

The 25-year-old wondered if Delisa would remember her father, who met her briefly while he was in Alaska on leave when she was 2 weeks old.

Both Dudleys belong to the 4th Battalion, 123rd Aviation Regiment; Maria Dudley is a sergeant. About 500 soldiers from the battalion are returning home after a tour in which they flew Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters carrying soldiers, prisoners and cargo around Iraq.

A first wave of soldiers returned in early November. About 100 arrived Saturday, and another 100 or so were expected Sunday. More are scheduled to arrive later this month.

She said she had stayed up half the night cleaning house. She wore a new outfit Saturday. Her hair was styled and her nails polished.

"It lets you know your marriage is strong when you get through a deployment and everything is good," Dudley said. "I told him over the phone, we're going to start dating because you are different and I am different. He was like, OK."

In a unit that saw 32 babies born in the last year, Staff Sgt. Martin Chapman's second grandchild, a boy, was born and his eldest son moved out of the house. Lt. Col. Randy Rotte's wife grew her hair long and his teenage son obtained his driver's license. Sgt. Ryan Evans' wife walked miles and miles last summer, losing nearly 50 pounds.

Michelle Evans held back tears as she waited for the man she married 10 years ago and hasn't seen since June 22.

"I made it through the year and I didn't have any major problems," Evans said. "I learned that I could take care of myself."

Lisa Rotte, wife of battalion commander Lt. Col. Randy Rotte, paced, talked on a cell phone, chatted with other wives and offered directions to other organizers of the Family Reunion Ceremony. "Busy is better," said Rotte, who last saw her husband Sept. 18.

Marie Chapman, wife of Staff Sgt. Martin Chapman, sat quietly watching some of her six children - Amy, 22, Martin Jr., 20, Tiffany, 16, Michael, 14, Kira, 10, and Ian, 8 - color a poster for their father.

Chapman told his family he would return Dec. 15 in hopes of surprising them; "The surprise is going to be on him," Marie Chapman said.

Two hours late, the soldiers arrived after spending the last week in Kuwait, where they caught a flight to Eielson Air Force Base with a refueling stop in Iceland.

From Eielson, buses took them to Fort Wainwright where they turned in their weapons and received instructions before reuniting with their families about 5 p.m.

As the soldiers stepped off the buses, about a dozen children ran to the edge of a rope used to cordon families from where the soldiers would gather in formation. The children held up homemade posters as the 9th Army Band played "Sabre and Spurs."

Onlookers hooted, hollered and whistled and some of the solders smiled and waved. Others searched the audience for loved ones, and still others kept their gaze forward as they assembled into two clusters, one for Alpha Company and one for Delta Company.

Every so often a soldier would break out into a broad smile, though their faces grew serious when the band played the national anthem and Col. John Buss, commander of the aviation task force, offered remarks.

The soldiers flew numerous helicopter missions, logging 10,000 hours, the colonel said. They worked in sauna-like temperatures, caught sleep when they could; days off were virtually nonexistent.

"The amazing thing about being over there is you don't even know what day of the week it is," Buss said. "They toiled during long days, weeks and months."

The desert is among the worst conditions to fly in, Buss said. "It just saps your strength," he said. "It's difficult to focus."

The unit experienced no combat casualties, although one soldier died of other causes.

When the rope finally came down, soldiers quickly broke formation as loved ones jumped from chairs and ran toward them.

First on his agenda was to get some sleep, then he planned to turn his attention to his new daughter. "I just want to bond with my baby daughter here," he said.

Spc. Bravley Norris handed out gifts to his family. The first thing he wanted was a shower. "I've been on a plane for about a day and a half," he said.

THE SANDS OF CHRISTMAS
by Michael Marks

I had no Christmas spirit when I breathed a weary sigh,
And looked across the table where the bills were piled too high.

The laundry wasn't finished and the car I had to fix,
My stocks were down another point, the Chargers lost by six.

And so with only minutes till my son got home from school
I gave up on the drudgery and grabbed a wooden stool.

The burdens that I carried were about all I could take,
And so I flipped the TV on to catch a little break.

I came upon a desert scene in shades of tan and rust,
No snowflakes hung upon the wind, just clouds of swirling dust.

And! where the reindeer should have stood before a laden sleigh,
Eight Humvees ran a column right behind an M1A.

A group of boys walked past the tank, not one was past his teens
Their eyes were hard as polished flint, their faces drawn and lean.

They walked the street in armor with their rifles shouldered tight,
Their dearest wish for Christmas, just to have a silent night.

Other soldiers gathered, hunkered down against the wind,
To share a scrap of mail and dreams of going home again
There wasn't much at all to put their lonely hearts at ease,
They had no Christmas turkey, just a pack of MREs.

They didn't have a garland or a stocking I could see,
They didn't need an ornament--they lacked a Christmas tree.

They didn't have a present even though it was tradition,
The only boxes I could see were labeled "ammunition."

I felt a little tug and found my son now by my side,
He asked me what it was I feared, and why it was I cried.

I swept him up into my arms and held him oh so near
And kissed him on the forehead as I whispered in his ear.

"There's nothing wrong, my little son, for safe we sleep tonight
Our heroes stand on foreign land to give us all the right,

To worry on the things in life that mean nothing at all,
Instead of wondering if we will be the next to fall."

He looked at me as children do and said, "it's always right,
To thank the ones who help us and perhaps that we should write."

And so we pushed aside the bills and sat to draft a note,
To thank the many far from home, and this is what we wrote:

"God bless you all and keep you safe, and speed your way back home.
Remember that we love you so, and that you're not alone.

The gift you give you share with all, a present every day,
You give the gift of liberty and that we can't repay."

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