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We would like to thank the people of Northern Michigan for their support and encouragement during the difficult period of the past six months since the tragedy of Matthew’s death. The communities that have shown support have been a real blessing to us and our extended families and friends. Words do NO justice for our gratitude. In the past, when Matthew left for deployment, the only thing to bring peace in our hearts was to think about his safe return. We know that won’t be happening now. However, Matthew and us have an extended family that reaches far beyond this...

EL PASO, Texas, Feb. 28, 2008 – The 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team may be a relative newcomer here, but more than 3,000 of the unit’s soldiers got a Texas-sized hometown heroes’ welcome yesterday as the city hosted a homecoming parade to honor them for their service in Iraq. Unit guidons from Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, dip their flags in a salute as soldiers file past the reviewing stand during a Welcome Home Heroes Parade in El Paso, Texas, Feb. 27, 2008. Photo by Staff Sgt Paula Taylor, USA  (Click photo for...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2007 – The first reduction in American forces in Iraq is under way as the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division heads back to Fort Hood, Texas. The brigade will not be replaced. Roughly 162,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq in 20 brigade teams or their Marine equivalents. If all goes well, this will drop to 15 brigade combat teams over the next eight months, Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq in Baghdad, said Nov. 24. Iraqi security forces are attaining the expertise and operational capabilities needed to...

U.S. Marine Mike Epperson returns from Iraq and surprises his two daughters

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Aug. 31, 2007 – There’s a sense of giddiness here as families prepare for their “Arrowhead Brigade” Strykers to return home after a 15-month deployment to Iraq. An advance party from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) is slated to arrive at neighboring McChord Air Force Base on Sept. 3, finalizing groundwork for almost 4,000 more troops to fly in beginning Sept. 11. Jubilant and frequently tearful reunions will play out again and again over the next week to 10 days, as one plane after another touches down to bring the full...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A 10-year-old boy got a surprise of a lifetime Tuesday at his Des Moines elementary school. Zech Reeder, 10, didn't expect his dad home from Iraq until next month, but his family had other ideas. Zech played his heart out during recess at Brubaker Elementary School. Little did he know what the day would bring. Zech said he missed not being able to come home and see his dad like he used to. In class on Tuesday, Zech got down to work with other students. Above the students' heads hangs a paper chain that numbers the...

LARGO - A veteran Gibbs High School teacher with a long history of work troubles had falsified hundreds of student ballots in an attempt to get her niece elected homecoming queen in September. A wave of chuckles rose during Tuesday's School Board meeting, where Lerner and other board members were asked to approve a 25-day unpaid suspension for the teacher, Sharion Thurman, 56. So why not fire the teacher, who earns more than $50,000 a year? Her 20-year record includes numerous reprimands for poor judgment, insubordination and misconduct. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said firing was an option. But he looked at...

At Life in the Desert, Our friend, and fellow Mississipian reports that he will be headed stateside in a little less than three weeks. Great news! I HAVE ABOUT 20 DAYS LEFT HERE AND CAN'T WAIT TO GET HOME. I AM READY FOR SOME CRESCENT CITY / MAHOGANY BAR FOOD. I WILL BE ENJOYING GOOD FOOD GOOD TIMES PLAYING SOME GOLF AND SOME OF THE OTHER THINGS I ENJOY DOING DURING MY DOWN TIME. Hey Richard, if you make it over to McComb, you've got 18 holes, and the biggest steak in town waiting for you. Thank you for your...

FORT HOOD – It has begun. It will take a few months to get to all 21,000 soldiers, but the 4th Infantry Division officially began returning home Monday from Iraq when about 150 soldiers from its Sustainment Brigade burst through the doors of Starker Gym to greet their loved ones. "Be proud of what you did," Col. Dick Francey, the division's rear commander, told the soldiers as they stood in a formation after arriving at the gym. "Your nation owes you a debt of gratitude." The brigade was the first from the division to head to Iraq, leaving about three...

Bay Shore High School's Class of 2006 homecoming king admitted in a Suffolk courtroom Friday to taking part in what prosecutors called one of the more horrifying crimes in recent history -- the beating, rape and robbery at gunpoint of a young couple on their first date. Recalling talking with his co-defendants after driving away from the brutal crime, Douglas Payton, 18, said, "We started to laugh about it." Payton pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and first-degree robbery for the Dec. 3 attack in Bay Shore. Newsday is not naming the couple because they were victims of...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Aug. 17, after an 18-month deployment under the Atlantic Fleet’s Sea Swap initiative. The crew that returned to Norfolk assumed command of the ship Feb. 22, and successfully completed a deployment to the Persian Gulf, Horn of Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. While deployed, Gonzalez was tasked with assisting non-combatant evacuation efforts in Lebanon. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel to arrive in support of the evacuation efforts. “We’re an air defense platform and that is our job; we provided air defense...

Troops To Get Warm Welcome Thanks To Community Effort BY JACOB L. GRANT and JEANNE MILES, Staff Writers Friday December 16, 2005 After about 14 months of service, 600 of Vermont's National Guardsmen are coming home. To say their families are excited would be an understatement. Crystal Buck, of St. Johnsbury, who's expecting her husband, Chet, to fly in sometime this afternoon, could hardly sit still. "I've got ants in my pants," she said laughing. "It's been difficult, but I had tons of people willing to help me. The support has been phenomenal." To express her joy and relief, Buck...

CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) -- John Prazynski stood in the sea of welcome home signs and wondered why he was there. Prazynski's son, Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, wasn't going to be among the 900 Marines from the 3rd Battalion who arrived home Sunday. Taylor Prazynski, 20, was killed May 9 from an insurgent mortar shell. But his father had promised his son he would attend the homecoming, so he rode his Harley Davidson more than 650 miles from Hamilton, Ohio, to Camp Lejeune. "I don't have any sort of agenda. I guess I want to thank his brothers for...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (June 17, 2005) -- Marines from 2nd Radio Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, were greeted by friends, family and fellow Marines upon their return from Iraq June 17. The leathernecks arriving at Camp Lejeune via bus were greeted by families lining the roads, holding colorful, hand-made banners, waving American flags and cheering as the chartered buses pulled up to the battalion area. “This is very exciting,” said Jim Bethany, father of Duncan, Okla., native Cpl. Joshua B. Bethany. “It’s good to see him back safe and sound.” The families had been hosted in style...

MISSOULA, Mont. -- A song honoring veterans will open the Operation Homecoming USA concert in Branson, Mo., next month. ...Carlson said the inspiration for her song was her brother, Gary, a Vietnam veteran now suffering a debilitating illness contracted during his tour of duty. Operation Homecoming USA, which will be held June 13-19, also plans to feature performances by the Beach Boys, the Fifth Dimension, the Supremes and the Oak Ridge Boys. The Doobie Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Tony Orlando also are to perform, Carlson said. "It's the national homecoming we never gave our Vietnam vets," she said.

The United American Committee with partners is organizing a military appreciation parade. If you can volunteer in any way to help organize this tremendous event, please contact us. The parade will be in Los Angeles and is scheduled for mid 2006, not to be in conjunction with any holiday. In the days following the close of WWI and WWII, Americans showed up in large numbers to support our troops homecoming. Military parades were in every major city across the nation. In these times, we must continue that spirit of pride in our servicemen by showing our support for them. We...

Please visit http://www.mcbh.usmc.mil/homecoming/1dbn/index.htm

SARANAC LAKE, NEW YORK--There are no longer generators running, or armored vehicles rumbling, or mortars exploding, and the roar of the silence is deafening to me. What I hear at night now is the gentle breaths released from the perfect lips of my sons. The same lips that I cannot kiss enough. The lips that make my eyes fill with tears every time they touch my cheeks. My release from Fort Drum came earlier than expected, so when I pulled into my driveway at noon the house was empty. I dropped my bags inside and walked alone through the rooms,...

The following is a message from cube-bound fellow Mississippi FReeper PMMD81, a coworker of mine. Everyone is invited to help me welcome my Marine son home TONIGHT, March 1. Lance Corporal Dusty (last name redacted for privacy) is arriving at Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Columbus MS on the 10:30 p.m. flight. Dusty is a graduate of Smithville High School and veteran of the liberation of Fallujah. We would love to have a big gang of folks to meet the airplane this evening. We will also be giving out directions on how to get to the welcome home party to...

Vietnam vets to get 'true homecoming' Grand-scale, weeklong event with 100,000 to say thank you -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: January 14, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com On the 30th anniversary of the end of the war, Vietnam veterans will be given the "homecoming celebration they never received" at a conference organizers hope will draw 100,000 people. Vietnam veterans memorial in Washington, D.C. "During those three decades, the brave men and women who served in that conflict have never been given the recognition they deserve for their heroic sacrifices in service to our country," the organizers, Operation Homecoming USA, say...

Battle-weary Marine Sgt. Juan Jimenez thought two weeks' combat leave meant no fighting for a while — but he discovered he was wrong when he landed in the clink at Newark Airport, all because his bag was missing. Exhausted and eager to get home to Orlando, the frustrated leatherneck said he "raised a ruckus" with American Airlines officials. Jimenez, 25, said Port Authority cops detained him for three hours, apparently hoping the problem would be resolved by the time he was sprung.[snip] Jimenez — whose battalion suffered four dead and 39 wounded in its house-to-house search for rebels in...

Elizabeth Vincelette of Virginia Beach, shown with 4-year-old Annie, says a guardian angel must have been watching over her husband this week.Photo by Genevieve Ross / The Virginian-Pilot.VIRGINIA BEACH -- For her fourth birthday Tuesday, Annie Vincelette got a Rapunzel costume and a copy of the movie "Sleeping Beauty." Her best present, though, was a fairy-tale ending to her father's brush with death that day, 20,000 feet above the Iraqi desert. Lt. Chad Vincelette, 32, a Virginia Beach native and Navy F-14 fighter pilot, was heading back to the carrier Kitty Hawk after a bombing run when a mechanical failure...

Pictures of my son Steve. (FR screen name "smaagee")with James Gandolfini, and Tony Sirico of the "Sopranos" Which just shows to go you that not all actors are lib traitors. Steve left Iraq after more than a year there and is currently in Kuwait. He leaves Kuwait tomorrow and will go to Ft. Lewis, Washington for a few days and then home by a few days after Thanksgiving. He is with the 724th, Transportation Co., a "Stryker" support unit. His company has had casualities and still has one man MIA - Spec4 Matt Maupin. Pray for Matt's safe return. FR...

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Officials at St. Cloud State University are expressing support and concern for the male student who was named homecoming queen last week. President Roy Saigo says Fue Khang has received threatening messages. In a letter to the university's faculty and staff, Saigo asks them to offset any prejudice and intimidation the homecoming royalty may have faced.

"Homecoming" means a lot more today to Forest Hills Central High School graduate Ben Miller than it did when he was captain of the 1999 Rangers football team. Five years ago, Miller scored three touchdowns in his team's win over Lowell, and then had a nice time at the homecoming dance. But it was nothing compared to the homecoming he had Friday afternoon, when the Army specialist returned to Grand Rapids from a year's duty in Iraq. His duty station the past 12 months was in a small town named Ramadi, close to Fallujah, a hot spot for American troops...

FORT HOOD - To the strains of the romantic standard At Last, about 200 soldiers who fought for a year in one of Iraq's toughest combat zones returned home Tuesday, into the arms of loved ones who came from across the nation to greet them. The soldiers were from two 1st Cavalry Division companies that were called into action on short notice in September 2003 — five months before the rest of their division — to bolster other Army and Marine units fighting in Iraq's Sunni Triangle. The units' performance in combat "will be recorded in the histories of this...

......But the most striking thing about this modest, delayed homecoming was the presence of the Vietnam veterans. I have now lived long enough, thank God, to see men of my own generation, slightly older brothers, turn out to do what I remember seeing veterans of World War I and World War II and the Korean War do on such occasions -- serve in color guards and stand at attention through long speeches and ceremony. Another generation passeth, and it's the Vietnam veterans who are there now to support the young men politicians ship around the world for dubious battle. "You...

Night Owls return homeSubmitted by: MCAS Cherry PointStory Identification #: 200482610416Story by Lance Cpl. Cullen J. Tiernan MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. (Aug. 28, 2004) -- Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 arrived stateside Sunday after serving more than six months in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. The Night Owls returned from their second tour of duty in Iraq in two years. The birds of prey flew home after months of constant combat at Iraq's Al Taqaddum Airbase in Al Anbar Province. An area strategically located between the infamous city of Fallujah and the provincial capital,...

Ashcroft attends homecoming as son’s ship returns from gulf By STEVE STONE , The Virginian-Pilot © August 16, 2004 Last updated: 1:34 AM Ensign Andy Ashcroft, son of Attorney General John Ashcroft NORFOLK — At first glance, Sunday’s homecoming of the Aegis guided missile destroyer McFaul from duty in the Persian Gulf region was little different than any naval ship’s return. But some among the throngs of kin and friends on hand to greet the ship’s crew of 300 may have been a bit surprised at one face in their midst at Pier 1 : Attorney General John Ashcroft. He...

        31st Fighter Wing commander, Brig. Gen. Michael Worden, speaks to the families and friends in Hangar 1 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, awaiting the June 3, 2004, arrival of the 603rd Air Control Squadron, returning from a 7-month deployment at Balad Air Base, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nichole Adamowicz                 Family members and friends of the 603rd Air Control Squadron patiently await the arrival of the deployed airmen at Hangar 1, Aviano Air Base, Italy, June 3, 2004....

BADAJOZ, Spain -- For centuries, Spanish conquerors have been coming home to this rugged, remote terrain near the border with Portugal. The gray stone castles and the towering cathedrals that dot the rocky countryside were built 500 years ago by native conquistadors returning triumphantly from the New World after plundering its riches. Last week, Spanish soldiers hastily withdrawn from service in Iraq by the newly elected government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero returned to the sprawling military base here and a welcome-home ceremony. A sign at the base entrance read, "Todo por la patria," or "All for the...

        Family members await the arrival of their loved ones on the pier at Naval Station San Diego, Calif. USS Boxer returned to San Diego after completing a three-and-a-half month deployment in support of troop rotations in Iraq. Boxer off-loaded personnel and equipment for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing during its second deployment in less than a year. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Danielle M. Sosa   USS Boxer returns to San Diego after its second deployment in less than a year after returning from a regularly scheduled deployment in...

 "Here's the message from my buddy who just returned from Iraq (commanding 731soldiers).  He was the QB of my West Point football team and was featured in aspecial on CNN last weekend called Hope and Fear in Iraq." - xxxx   Everyone,     I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that 1-8  Infantry is now  home safe and sound save for 21 soldiers still in Kuwait  loading all of our  equipment onto ships.  It was quite an emotional  return for all.  I conducted  a battalion formation yesterday before all  the soldiers departed on our 2   week block leave period and...

Sandy Hanke joins a crowd of family and friends in giving a boisterous welcome home to Soldiers with the 43rd Area Support Group, 3rd Brigade, 7th Infantry Division and the 113th Medical Co., Combat Stress Control, an Army Reserve unit from Las Alamedos, Calif., as they march into the Fort Carson special events center after arriving back from a year-long deployment to Iraq. Spc. Lorie JewellAcross America, Soldiers arrive home to rousing welcomesBy Spc. Lorie JewellApril 16, 2004 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Army News Service, April 16, 2004) – In a gymnasium festooned with welcome-home signs, banners, buntings and balloons of...

      Sgt. Tim Bailey, a crew chief for Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A, gets a kiss from his daughter, March 31, 2004, after returning home to Bellechasse Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans, La. Sgt Bailey served in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Lydia L. Collison         U.S. Marines from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773, Detachment A, return home to Bellechasse Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans, La., March 31, 2004, after serving in Operation Enduring Freedom...

 Hawaii's "Easy Riders" fly back from IraqSubmitted by: MCB HawaiiStory Identification Number: 2004319163841Story by Sgt. Alexis R. Mulero MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Kaneohe Bay(March 19. 2004) -- After six months of being the "Eagle in the Sky" for the tactical defense of Expeditionary Strike Group 1, 25 Sailors and two SH-60B Seahawks that make-up Detachment 1 of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 37 returned home, March 11. The "EasyRiders" had been deployed in the western Pacific in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom aboard the Guided Missile Cruiser USS Port Royal, which was part of the Navy's first-ever Expeditionary Strike Group....

Families celebrate as their loved ones return from Iraq By Anita Powell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, February 17, 2004 FORT HOOD -- The converted gym was silent for the first time in two hours as 60 uniformed men and women marched in and moved into formation, five abreast. For two minutes, their faces solemn and some tear-streaked, they gazed at one another: the men and women who had returned safely after an average of 10 months in Iraq, and the families they left behind. After a solemn, wordless national anthem and a prayer, chaos erupted as the members of the 4th...

The western part of Baghdad is now under the control of Fort Hood's First Cavalry Division. Soldiers with the Army Taskforce 2/70 "Thunderbolt" Division handed over responsibility to their newly arrived comrades today (Tuesday). The soldiers of 2/70 spearheaded the invasion of Iraq and fought their way up to Baghdad with battles in Nasiriyah, Samawah and Najaf. After spending nearly a year away from home, the First Armored Division will head home to Fort Riley, Kansas. The First Cavalry will officially take over all of Baghdad in April.

  Iraq Homecoming Tips I'm an NCO in the USAF (deployed to Iraq) and wanted to pass on a few hints for those family members who's soldiers, airmen, marines, seamen will be rotating out of the AOR as the major rotation has started. This time of transition will not be picture perfect or easy for most, as everyone over here changes a bit, as they have to. If you could pass these homecoming tips on, I'd appreciate it. First of all, don't push your loved one for information. If they want to talk about it, they will, if not, they won't....

  First 101st Airborned Troops Leave Kuwait For Fort Campbell CAMP WOLVERINE, Kuwait - The floodgates have opened as the first flights of 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldiers left Wednesday and Thursday from the Kuwait City Airport for Fort Campbell, Ky. Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division began arriving at Fort Campbell directly from Mosul earlier this month. Those soldiers were not necessary for the three-day convoys to move their unit's equipment back to Kuwait for shipping home. The lead elements of the 159th Aviation Regiment, a 101st Airborne unit, are the first to finish processing through Kuwait....

A mom's best gift: Once-wayward son finds sense of purpose in Iraq 08:49 PM CST on Wednesday, December 24, 2003 By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News For Michael Zeagler, a Dallas soldier fighting in Iraq, one of the sweetest moments of coming home for the holidays occurred just before Christmas at Valley View Center mall. The Army specialist, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, had arrived at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after a grueling 72-hour journey from Mosul, Iraq. The first thing the 22-year-old wanted to do, even in full desert "camo," was head to the...

FOR RETURNING SOLDIERS, HOMECOMING BRINGS MIXED EMOTIONS... DEVELOPING...

Anybody up to greet the Seabees in mid September??? My friend whose husband is a seabee asked to see if I could get some greeters.

September 4, 2003 - Almost a year ago to the day, Kevin Minor said his vows and kissed his bride. And then came the phone call. Be on alert, his National Guard unit told him. Be ready. Two weeks later, they ordered him to pack up. Just the basics. One month later he kissed his pregnant wife, Angela, waved goodbye to his two children and boarded a plane. Touchdown: Iraq. Minor was off to war. Joining the guard Minor, who usually spends his days as a maintenance technician for Charter One Mortgage, joined the National Guard 10 years ago for...

<p>Reno Perryman Petty 1st Officer Reno Perryman cleans his 9mm gun while camped out under a bridge along the Euphrates River in Iraq in May. Perryman just returned home after six months in Iraq.</p> <p>It has been almost four months since President George Bush stood on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and declared the main fighting in Iraq was over.</p>

Alexsandra Hester welcomes her husband, Staff Sgt. Matthew Hester, home on Friday at the Murr Community Center on Fort Huachuca. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA -- Lilian Negron is 2 years old, Caelan Hester is also 2 years old. Catherine Zorn is 5 months old and her brother Will is 3 years old. On Friday, they all had one thing in common besides their young ages -- they were waiting for their soldier fathers to return home from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Slightly after noon Friday, a bus pulled up in front of the Murr Community Center on post escorted by...

<p>Caelan Hester is also 2 years old.</p> <p>Catherine Zorn is 5 months old and her brother Will is 3 years old.</p> <p>On Friday, they all had one thing in common besides their young ages -- they were waiting for their soldier fathers to return home from Operation Iraqi Freedom.</p> <p>Slightly after noon Friday, a bus pulled up in front of the Murr Community Center on post escorted by military police vehicles with sirens wailing a welcome home call.</p> <p>The nearly two-day trip home from Kuwait and Iraq was finally over .....</p>

ARLINGTON, Va. — One day after announcing plans to cover the next two years of deployments to Iraq, Army officials Thursday still were tweaking those schedules and scrambling to update divisional officials. On Wednesday, Gen. John Keane, the Army’s acting chief of staff, listed the plans for several Army divisions, but failed to make any mention of when V Corps soldiers might be coming home. On Thursday, Army staffers from Washington to Germany couldn’t answer any time line questions about Germany-based V Corps troops, referring media questions back and forth across the ocean between public affairs officials in the States...

Hoping to avoid the delays and denials sick soldiers faced after the first Gulf War, the Pentagon has ordered health screenings for every soldier, sailor, Marine and airman sent into the Iraq war. Within 30 days of their homecoming, every one will fill out a health questionnaire, review it with a health provider and give a blood sample a sweeping effort to defend against potential health problems among the estimated 250,000 troops sent to the Persian Gulf region during the war. "We're prepared this time, whereas in the first Gulf War we really weren't," said Col. Paula K. Underwood, an...

U.S. to Screen Troops Returning From Iraq Russ Bynum - AP FORT STEWART, Ga. - Col. Paula K. Underwood, an Army doctor, had just returned to her post in Germany from the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) when she saw a patient whose condition baffled other doctors. The patient was a soldier, also just back from the war, who complained of memory loss. He could no longer find his way from home to work. He had trouble remembering how to make his morning coffee. He was the first of 72 patients with unexplained illnesses Underwood would see before...