Schofield troops elated to be back
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Everywhere in the small hangar yesterday at Wheeler Army Airfield, soldiers felt the safe embrace of home. It felt good.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
They had been to Iraq and back, deployed for a year as members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division (Light) from Schofield Barracks. Theirs was the first large contingent — 263 men and women from nine units — to return.
Pfc. Kashara Torres of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team hugs husband Gilbert Torres in one of many joyful reunions. Yesterday, 263 Army men and women came home to Hawai'i. Most of the 5,200 troops deployed from Schofield Barracks a year ago are still in Iraq.
More than 5,200 Schofield soldiers have spent the past 12 months in Iraq, and most are still there.
Erick Sutton, a first lieutenant, held his daughter, 9-month-old Mackenzie, in the crook of his left arm as the child sucked on a pacifier. Her blue eyes sparkled.
He was in a war zone when she was born last March. It was just about then that time seemed to slow down, he said.
"In the middle it was very long, but looking back, it wasn't that bad," Sutton said.
Sutton is making a career of the Army — he has 12 years in already — and his time away from loved ones has not changed his feelings.
"It has definitely strengthened my resolve," he said. "I'm very happy to serve my country. But right now, I'm mainly happy to be home."
Vanessa, his wife, could barely contain her joy. Like many who greeted loved ones, the deployment was described in single-word bursts.
Intense. Overwhelmed. Ecstatic. The best, however, was "Da-Da."
Soldiers returning yesterday include 263 members of the the 125th Signal, 65th Engineer and 125th Military Intelligence battalions, and 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.
"I'm so excited to see my husband, and to have him hold Mackenzie," Vanessa Sutton said. "We've been practicing how to say Da-Da. She can say it now."
The troops arrived first at Hickam Air Force Base, touching down about 4:15 a.m. yesterday after traveling for 25 hours. They still faced a bus ride up the hill to Wheeler.
But the worst part of the trip may have been the final moments when they were forced to stand at attention, their loved ones a dozen feet away.
Their eyes — darting this way and that, searching for familiar faces amid the balloons and flowers and smiles — gave them away as their commander thanked them and a band played patriotic themes.
When they were dismissed, bedlam ensued. Cheers, screams, squeals.
Chief Warrant Officer Michael LaGrave kissed his wife, Teresa, and this was not a delicate peck on the lips, either. Two of his sons and his grandmother from North Dakota watched the happy homecoming.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I've been gone on and off for 36 months," he said. "The only thing going through my mind is getting to spend some quality time with my family and to watch them grow up."
Spc. James Raley, of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, meets his 5-month-old daughter, Saniya, at Wheeler Army Airfield.
At the center of the reunion stood Spc. James Raley, taking it all in while tightly holding baby Saniya in his arms. She's 5 months old.
He had the unmistakable look of a traveler after a long journey, his mind trying to connect dots on a mental map to the people and places of home. Being deployed had required focus.
"It was stressful," Raley said of Iraq. "You had to keep your head clear to get through. You always have to call home, write letters, get on the Internet. That always cleared my head."
There were doubts, of course. They've been erased by experience, he said.
"When you first start, you don't know if you can do it — a year," Raley said. "Now, you know you can."
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
