Amber’s Awesome Angels

This isn’t a post about diabetes, it’s a post about being an American. 

Today the National Guard battalion which is from the area where I grew up came back from Iraq.  They got into the US last week and were released from active duty this afternoon.  I have a lot of friends in the battalion, and the guy in charge of the homecoming ceremony is a friend of mine from high school, so I volunteer to go help.  Wow am I glad I did. 

The battalion was originally slated to return in April, but the surge made them one of the first units to have their stay extended.  They were in Iraq for 17 months and were on active duty for 22 months total.  They are the longest serving unit in Iraq to date, both active duty and National Guard, and no other National Guard unit has been deployed this long since WWII.  They are a special group of people.  They earned something like 60 Purple Hearts, and had about 15 awards for valor.  60% of the battalion earned Combat Infantryman’s Badges, which an infantryman received after being in a combat theater for at least 6 months, and is the most cherished and respected award the Infantry has.  Unfortunately, two of the members didn’t make it home with the rest, they were killed in a fight with insurgents last fall.  Their families were present, though.

Their route took them from Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, south to cross into Iowa at Dubuque, then west to Waterloo, where the ceremony was held.  It’s about an 80 minute drive from Dubuque to Waterloo on a 4 lane highway.  When they crossed the border into Iowa, they met up with about 600 members of the Patriot Guard, a motorcycle group made up mostly of veterans, but completely of people who simply want to show respect for our troops. 

http://www.patriotguard.org/

Their motorcycles, along with a state trooper and county sheriff escort, brought them to Waterloo.  The battalion is made up from over 200 communities, most with their own VFW or American Legion.  At every overpass on that 80 minute drive there was a group of veterans standing in salute as the 18 buses carrying the battalion rode past.  The battalion deployed with about 650 troops.  All along the route there were “welcome home” signs and ”love you” signs and American flags.  Everywhere.  As a veteran, good flags displays get me emotional as it is, but coupled with the signs and the purpose of the day, my eyes were watering.  A lot.

The Patriot Guard had members stationed all along the route, pretty much at every on ramp, so by the time they got to Waterloo they numbered close to 700.  From where I was standing, you could see them pull in, and it took about 10 minutes just to get the motorcycles in.  Then about a hundred of them came into the baseball stadium where the ceremony was being held, each carrying an American flag.  They lined the route that the battalion would take to walk in.  If you’ve ever seen a sabre arch, it was kinda like that, but with American flags.  The Patriot Guard is an awesome group of individuals, and the service they provide is outstanding.

I got there at 9 am to help set up, the ceremony started at 2.  People were already arriving at the stadium at 6:30 am.  The stadium holds about 5000 people, they planned for 6500.  More than 10,000 showed up, almost all at least 2 hours before the troops arrived.  I’ve got pictures, I just haven’t loaded them onto my PC yet.  The energy was incredible.  The shirts were, too.  I think almost everyone had some kind of custom t-shirt, with pictures and names, and sayings like “SGT Smith’s Mom” and “My Daddy’s a Hero”.  One of the cutest shirts I saw was worn by a little boy, probably 3 or 4, and it had a picture of his dad with his name and a line that said something about how proud he was of his dad.  I don’t remember the actual phrase, because all I remember is that the boy was getting antsy, his grandma was doing her best to calm him, but he kept saying, “I just want to see my daddy”.  I couldn’t stop thinking that the last time this boy saw his dad, the last time they shared an embrace, the boy probably wasn’t even old enough to remember it.  Then I couldn’t stop thinking about my kids at home, and how I got to hug them every day and this boy was deprived of that.  I had to turn away so they didn’t see me cry.  These families are proud of their soldiers, and both the families and the soldiers are proud of their service and they know it was worthwhile.  Seeing the sacrifice that the families had to make in the face of this little boy makes me appreciate what they all did even more.

The ceremony lasted about 20 minutes, then the troops were dismissed.  At that point is was pure mayhem.  The 10,000 people and the 650 troops all converged on each other, and the reunions were something so touching that I don’t think words can adequately express.

The Patriot Guard then filed quietly away, off to prepare for the next homecoming or the next funeral detail.  I have more respect for that group than I can possibly express.  The happiness and emotion that you get just watching an event like this is something to cherish.  Makes you proud to be an American.