Sgt. John McBride holds daughter Madison on Thursday at Barnes Field House. McBride returned to Fort Huachuca with fellow soldiers of the 86th Signal Battalion after 15 months in Iraq.
Welcome Home and Thank You!
Posted on 11/09/2007 3:04:47 PM PST by mdittmar
FORT HUACHUCA — When Sgt. Michael Inchausti left for Iraq on Aug. 21, 2006, his son was but a babe in arms.
On Thursday, the 86th Signal Battalion soldier returned to the fort after a 15-month deployment to find a mini-me coming toward him dressed in a tyke-sized Army uniform and combat boots, albeit with much longer hair on his head than dad’s.
In 2006, Dominic Inchausti was a 3-month-old who was sound asleep in his father’s arms before the soldier boarded an airplane at Libby Army Air Field for the Middle East.
What was waiting for the soldier was a bundle of energy who ran around the gym floor at the post’s Barnes Field House as his mother, Sierra, occasionally caught up with him before the now 18-month-old child escaped from her.
Mom and son were waiting, along with hundreds of other spouses, children, other family members and friends, for more than 300 soldiers of the battalion to return.
More than 600 people, including soldiers of the 11th Signal Brigade who had not deployed, filled bleachers on one side of the gym.
The plane carrying the soldiers left Kuwait around noon on Wednesday and after landing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson on Thursday and transferring to buses, the 311 soldiers arrived slightly more than 25 hours after leaving.
Pockets of local residents planted themselves along Highway 90, from the Whetstone area through Huachuca City to the Main Gate.
A tired, but smiling group, marched into the gym, led by battalion commander Lt. Col. Les Vernon.
During the hours of waiting, some of those who had come to greet the soldiers had been in the gym for four hours, children ran around the floor, playing tag, engaging in foot races or shimmied along the wooden floor on their behinds or pretending they were swimming in a waterless pool.
Although planes returning soldiers to the fort usually land at Libby, this time the pilot of the civil commercial contract aircraft opted for Davis-Monthan.
“They’ve left Tucson,” one message broadcast throughout the gym announced.
A few cheered.
“They are leaving I-10 (Interstate 10)” was another message, greeted by a few more yells.
“They are going through Huachuca City,” which led to a growing amount of excitement as the cheers became louder.
“They’re on the fort,” which brought a really loud outburst.
A short time later, nearly 70 motorcycle riders of The Patriot Guard could be heard outside the gym as they cruised by and revved their engines.
A few in the audience who had a line of sight to see outside saw the nine buses carrying the soldiers go by, which led to screams of joy.
The bikers escorted the buses part of the way.
The greeters excitedly buzzed as they waited for the official arrival.
But first the motorcyclists came in, many carrying American flags.
They were greeted by cheers, almost like the yells were a warm-up for the main event — the soldiers.
The ceremonial entrance of the 86th’s soldiers created pandemonium as everyone in the bleachers stood and screamed.
A prayer and the playing of the national anthem was all that was involved in the formal ceremony.
But there was one poignant period.
Brig. Gen. Carroll Pollett, who will officially be pinned with two stars as a major general next month, asked the crowd to join him in a moment of silence for a battalion soldier who was killed in action during the deployment.
“Let’s think about Victor,” the general said.
Soldiers in formation bowed their heads, and adults in the bleachers did the same. Only a few children’s voices could be heard in the nearly silent gym.
The time was to honor Cpl. Victor Langarica, who was a passenger in a helicopter that was shot down by the enemy.
He and nearly a dozen others in the aircraft, all the passengers and crew, were killed.
It was just recently that the few remains — none of which could be identified — were buried in one casket that was lowered into the sacred ground at Arlington National Cemetery.
Of all the deployments, the 11th Signal Brigade, of which the 86th is part, this is the only one during which a brigade soldier has died. In nearly two decades, the brigade has deployed to a number of global hot spots, including DesertStorm/Desert Shield, Somalia, East Timor, Haiti, Afghanistan and the current operation in Iraq.
The welcome home is a celebration of a job well done in providing critical communications in Iraq, said Pollett, who promised he would not talk more than 45 minutes.
His joke was greeted by fake moans of despair.
He added he knew better than to keep the soldiers separated from their families.
But there was one message the commander of the Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Signal Command (Army), the higher headquarters of the brigade and the battalion, wanted to impart, and that was for everyone to be safe.
“I want you to think safety,” the general sad.
Looking at the people in the bleachers, Pollett asked all the family members to come onto the floor of the gym and go up to a blue line.
“Don’t cross the blue line,” Pollett said.
Praising those who had supported their soldiers and provided for their children, he didn’t want any to fall and mar the welcome home.
The general then assumed command of the battalion. With a loud order of “dismissed,” soldiers ran to their families and families and friends to the soldiers.
For awhile it was mixed mayhem as the two sides looked for each other.
Small groups gathered, hugging, crying and laughing.
During the initial excitement after the official aspects of the ceremony were over, Ba’Ann George, a 3-year-old girl, slept on the floor off the side of the gym. Her father wasn’t returning. Her mother brought her and her brother to the ceremony because their father is a member of the 11th.
As for his second tour to Iraq, Inchausti said, “It was better than the first, but it has some difficult times.”
For the next week, the returning soldiers will be busy checking back in on the post.
While he was deployed, Inchausti’s wife moved herself and their son to Phoenix, which both parents call home.
Shortly after the first of the year, the soldier will start preparing for a new assignment in Alabama.
What he, she and probably all returning soldiers and their loved ones are looking forward to is a 30-day block leave through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
For the sergeant and his wife, part of that will include a trip to Las Vegas, sans his mini-me.
While the soldiers of the 86th thought the deployment was going to be 12 months, it was extended for another three months.
That led to some emotional difficulties, said Debra Vernon, the battalion’s commander wife.
The mother of two boys also works. Added to those responsibilities, because of her husband’s position, she leads the battalion’s Family Readiness Group.
It was a difficult time, especially for the younger wives, who had little experience of being an Army spouse, she said.
After the notification of the extension, she and others were waiting “for the other shoe to drop” — the one that the length of deployment would go to 18 months.
The families in the support group came together and helped each other.
But the mission of the battalion’s Family Readiness Group isn’t over, as they will be hosting a welcome home event on Saturday for single soldiers who had no local families to greet them. There will be a battalionwide barbecue next week.
Pollett made his way through the soldiers and their families, stopping to talk to all ranks.
When he came up to Vernon’s wife, the general informed her that he told her husband to take some time off.
“If he doesn’t, you call me,” Pollett said.
Soon, the gym was nearly vacant, a few children popping orange and white balloons — the colors of the Signal Corps.
More than one soldier remarked the sounds were to familiar like those they occasionally hard in Iraq when insurgents would shoot their weapons, but that was there and not here.
Welcome Home and Thank You!
God Bless them all, the heroes that have returned and may he comfort the families of those that won’t return.
BTTT!
What a cutie...
In your F’ing face Harry Reid. Welcome Home HEROES!
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