Posted on 11/27/2006 8:07:09 AM PST by MNJohnnie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1744168/posts
Great picture of some troops homecomming posted on this thread.
Oh, he’s here!’ Strykers return to open arms
It was 32 below zero on Fort Wainwright, a 102-degree difference from Baghdad, where hundreds of soldiers with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team had been just prior to their return to Fairbanks on Saturday.
But even with foggy and icy windows on the buses that brought them in from Eielson Air Force Base, all the soldiers knew was the warm welcome of friends and family.
Before the soldiers arrived at Fort Wainwright, Col. Robert Ball, deputy commander of U.S. Army Alaska, briefed the anxious and excited crowd of family and friends.
“Go easy on them. They’re tired and a little chilly,” Ball said.
When the soldiers arrived, they lined up in formation about 50 feet in front of the crowd, with families and soldiers facing each other and loud cheers echoing throughout the large building.
“Oh, he’s here!” said Tamatha Zavodsky, jumping up to get a glimpse of her husband, Sgt. Maj. Dennis Zavodsky, in formation.
A sign on the Richardson Highway outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, greets a bus load of 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers returning from Iraq on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006. The first plane loads of the brigade began arriving Saturday as the 3,800 troops return from their extended deployment. (AP Photo/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Sam Harrel) Ball commended the soldiers and their families in his 37-second speech, timed by one of Zavodsky’s sons. And finally, after 16 months of being 5,620 miles and a war apart, the distance between families and soldiers closed in as they rushed into each other’s arms.
Just over 600 soldiers arrived in Fairbanks between the two flights Saturday. An additional 200 were bound for Anchorage. About 3,800 soldiers with the brigade are scheduled to arrive in Fairbanks over the next 10 days. Twenty six died during the 16-month deployment.
The brigade served the first year of its tour in northern Iraq, being based out of Mosul, and was extended four months and moved to Baghdad to help combat violence there.
Reunions between families varied Saturday between seriously romantic to boisterous and joyous. Soldiers coming home to young children sank to their knees to embrace their toddlers or cradled infants they had never met. Young couples shared long, steamy kisses. Single soldiers were introduced to their buddy’s wife and kids and promised a hot meal in the next couple days before lining up for buses to their hotel rooms or barracks.
At least two-thirds of the first flight Saturday were single soldiers, many who did not have family members waiting to greet them. The Family Readiness Groups for the battalions had prepared the single soldiers’ barracks, supplying blankets, snacks, razors and shaving cream and other comforts. And even though some families couldn’t be there in person, many across the country were breathing sighs of relief as they received word their soldiers were in Alaska.
Molly Nava and a group from the brigade Support Battalion were busy on their cell phones, calling families across the country letting them know their soldier was en route to Fairbanks.
“That they are on a plane out of Iraq, that’s all they care about,” Nava said.
In some cases, single soldiers were met by the families of other soldiers.
Zavodsky, who was on hand with two sons to greet her husband, also had been tasked with finding Capt. Jerry O’Dowd, who didn’t have any family to greet him. O’Dowd’s mother in Georgia had sent up a box of cookies to give her son. O’Dowd’s girlfriend in Savannah had sent a banner welcoming him home, hanging among the dozens of signs in the building.
U.S. Army Sgt. Nick Ramsey of the 4th Battalion 23rd Infantry, kisses his wife Devan during a homecoming celebration for soldiers with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainwright, Alaska Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006, after serving 16 months in Iraq. (AP Photo/ Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Eric Engman) O’Dowd was pleasantly surprised when Zavodsky gave him the cookies and told him about the banner.
“Wow,” was all he said, tearing up as he looked at his mother’s handwriting on the box of cookies and walked off to find his banner.
Even families who didn’t have a soldier returning on the first flights came just to gear up for their reunions. Sue Ulibarri brought her two children Saturday. Her husband, Sgt. Maj. William Ulibarri, isn’t due in Fairbanks until later in the week.
“But this is the most exciting thing happening in Fairbanks,” she said.
A few years ago, I would have agreed with that. But now, I'm not sure anything would wake this country up.
Here ... in Deep Work N Lurk Mode.
Moonbat is delusional. Rush is letting him have it.
Have a good Turkey Day?
And Rush just echoed what I've been trying to tell the Cut and Run FReepers...the good news isn't getting covered in Iraq.
If this was Gore's or Kerry's war,the MSM would be ralling the people. Since it's GWB, it's wrong and evil.
Ollie North had a good show on last night. Hollywood at war! The Hollywood (men) of today are nothing but wuss! They wish they could be a Military!
Dow down 100 points!
It was very good.
My parents had a great time.
My dad got me hooked on Su Doku!
Well, that is Step 1 in the 12. Now, maybe you and Mike Richards can get a group rate. :)
Lot's of people are hooked on Su Doku.
I never thought I'd see the Rush Live thread turn into another cut'n'run forum.
I voted with the majority in the FR poll, but "whatever it takes" does NOT include negotiating with Iran and Syria. The ISG is out of its gourd.
Just my opinion, folks.
:)!!
(:
I voted to start the bombing. But of course to me that is winning!
.....and we have accomplished exactly what in Iraq? Sure some bad guys became buzzard food? Sadaam will entertain the world by getting his stupid neck stretched .. and rightly so .... but what exactly will we offer the struggling government in Iraq and at what price? How many Americans will die for a country that cannot embrace the concept that this is the year 2006 and people simply cannot hold thousand year old grudges anymore. A new day has dawned...
Pfffftttttt!!!
These crazy people cannot think that far ahead...and they don't want to either. Sure, they love the American dollar and our cool techology .. but that's the end of the love affair.
We are but a speck on the parchment for them.
We underestimated the Viet Cong because we didn't think like Asians ....
This is a cluster flub of monumental proportion.
They understand one thing ... and we are too soft to deliver it.
I couldn't agree with you more.
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