FT. DIX, N.J. –– Late Monday was homecoming for about four-hundred western Pennsylvania National Guardsmen homebased in Cambridge Springs as they set foot in the United States for the first time since their deployment to Iraq began about nine months ago.
About 24 hours after starting the last leg of their trip home in Kuwait, planes carrying companies A, B and C of the 56th Stryker Brigade’s 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry touched down at Ft. Dix. For about two hours, the troops spent time with family and friends from across the region. While Cambridge Springs is their joint home base, each company’s soldiers come from a different area –– A from Butler, B from Crawford County and C from Bradford and Ridgway. The rest of the battalion –– the headquarters company –– is due in at Ft. Dix today. After about a week’s worth of filling out paperwork and demobilization briefings, the soldiers will be bussed back to Cambridge Springs, where the community is planning a homecoming celebration.
For now, however, most of the troops are simply trying to get some rest.
“It’s just grueling,” 56th Brigade Public Affairs Officer Capt. Cory Angell said of the trip home. “It’s a 24-hour deal, but that’s just the last part.”
In fact, the troops’ journey home was a multi-day process starting with a transfer from their operating base, Camp Taji, to Baghdad International Airport via helicopter. After at least a day in Baghdad, there’s a flight to Kuwait followed by at least another day’s layover. For the long trip from there to New Jersey, the troops flew in airliners with all the amenities common to commercial international flights.
The entire process “involves a lot of waiting and it takes quite a bit longer than just the plane rides,” said Angell, “and the last day is a real smoker.”
For about the next week, the troops will fill out paperwork and attend briefings about a wide variety of post-deployment issues ranging from accessing medical care to help finding employment.
Then comes the moment everyone’s been waiting for –– the final leg of the trip back to Crawford County.
Pat Bywater can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at pbywater@meadvilletribune.com.
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Stryker soldiers home after grueling journey
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