Troops welcomed home with open arms (Tears of Pride Warning)

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Review ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA — A soldier returning from a 15-month deployment was hurried off a civilian contract plane Tuesday morning and immediately taken to the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center.

It wasn’t that Sgt. Jamal Smith was ailing. He wasn’t.

His wife, Cherrelle, also an Army sergeant, was in the hospital in labor to deliver the couple’s first child.

Smith was one of more than 225 soldiers of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion returning to the post after most served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar for 15 months.

The first group of 314 battalion soldiers arrived on the fort Monday evening with the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Linda Jantzen.

On Tuesday, Jantzen hurried up the ramp to the Omni Air International DC-10 to call the soldier forward and have him exit the aircraft first.

“I didn’t know about it until she told me,” Smith said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the baby, conceived during his two-week deployment leave, hadn’t been born. But the father-to-be said, “We’re expecting him today (Tuesday).”

The plane landed at 6:20 a.m., starting what would be a more than two-hour process in one of the hangars at Libby Army Airfield before the soldiers were bussed to Barnes Field House, escorted by military police and area patriotic motorcycle groups. The soldiers’ loved ones waited for them at the field house.

As the soldiers marched in, applause and cheering greeted them.

Once again, Col. Francis Huber, commander of the 11th Signal Brigade, the battalion’s parent organization, kept his remarks short.

“You have performed magnificently in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. Well done,” he said.

The Signal Corps jobs accomplished by Team 40th included planning, installing, operating and maintaining the largest most complex operational base communications network ever to support an active war zone, according to a narrator who outlined the unit’s missions.

As he did Monday night, Huber quickly dismissed the returning soldiers. Once again, the gym floor was a scene of joyful reunions.

Sgt. Jeffery Gunderson re-connected his wife Svetlana and two children, daughter Kristinia, 4, and son Nathan, 2.

Before Gunderson returns to duty on the post, the soldier said he plans to take his family on a trip to San Diego to visit places such as Sea World. All the soldiers will have a 30-day unit block leave.

Holding his son, the sergeant added that when he left for deployment his son was 9 months old. When he came home on his two-week leave, Nathan was just beginning to walk.

“I’ve got some catching up to do with him,” the NCO said.

Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.

[SandRat]

A tearful Sgt. Jeffery Gunderson gets a good look at his children, Nathan, left, 2, and Kristina, 4, during Tuesday’s homecoming of more 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion soldiers from Iraq. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)

Milayna Tenney spots her dad, Capt. Carson Tenney, during Tuesday’s welcome home event on Fort Huachuca for the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion. The unit’s soldiers were deployed overseas for 15 months. >I>(Ed Honda-Herald/Review)

Sgt. Supriya Vidic receives a hug from Capt. Donyel Williams as she returns to Fort Huachuca on Tuesday. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)

Sgt. Jamal Smith, right, of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, is greeted by Col. William Scott, center, and Col. Francis Huber after arriving from the Middle East. Sgt. Smith received news that his wife, Sgt. Cherrelle Smith was getting ready to deliver their baby. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)';

[SandRat]

WOO-HOO!!!!

[Jet Jaguar]

BTTT

[nmh]

Major tissue alert!!!

[SolidWood]

*sniff* Thanks SandRat!

[Trajan88]

This pic rocks... what a sweetie!

[allmost]

Bump to the top. :)

[Texas Fossil]

Sierra Vista is a great little town. And Ft. Hoochy-Koochy has some really committed soldiers.

I was in Sierra Vista every other week for years, and made some great friends in the local Ham community there.

It is an Army Communications and Intelligence center. At the time I was going through the area they also taught pilots to fly Blackhawks.

Welcome home!

[DesertCoyote]

Brought a tear to my eye. glad the soldiers have returned home safely.

[waxer1]

I sure did a lot of brazilian waxings just before they came home.—Wives and girlfriends getting ready for their men.

Glad to do my part!! ;-)