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Posted on Fri, Jul. 11, 2003
At last, home sweet home
More than 160 of 3rd Brigade return to warm welcome
BY MICK WALSH
Staff Writer
There were the official family members in the stands, and there were the brothers on crutches and in bandages, waiting in the steamy gymnasium to say "Welcome Home, Guys."
"I wouldn't miss this for the world," said 23-year-old Sgt. Shawn Williams, who, just four months ago, had his gut ripped apart by an Iraqi bullet as he fired his .50-caliber machine gun from the turret of a Humvee in An Nasiriyah. "These are my guys."
More than 160 soldiers, representing just about every unit in the Fort Benning-based 3rd Brigade, returned to their home on Kelley Hill Thursday evening.
Elements from Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 3rd Brigade; the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment; 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment; 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment; 1st battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment; the 317th Engineer Battalion; and the 203rd Support Battalion, were among the first to return from almost seven months of duty in Iraq.
They were greeted by almost 500 family members and friends, a military band and an entire company of media representatives.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of these soldiers," said Capt. Ben Coronado of HHC, 3rd Brigade, who had the honor of marching the troops into the Kelley Hill gym. "The six months of training we had last year was more than enough to prepare our guys. Hey, it just took us three weeks."
Months of uncertainty lingered for both those in the Persian Gulf and families at home.
"During the early part of the war I had two TV sets in my room, one tuned to CNN and the other to Fox and I'd watch every minute I could," said Marites Hanson, 29, whose husband Sgt. Michael Hanson, 26, serves in the 1st of the 15th. "But after two weeks, I couldn't watch any more. It was too scary."
Hanson was one of those who made it back in one piece.
Shawn Williams, a red-head from Childersburg, Ala., wasn't as lucky. He was a scout with the 1-15 when he was shot in the abdomen. "The bullet went out my back. It cut up a lot of stuff inside me." He recuperated from what was a critical wound at hospitals in Germany and Washington, D.C., before returning to Fort Benning.
Pvt. Fernando Gonzales was also wounded in that March 23 firefight in An Nasiriyah. His left leg carries a scar where "something -- a bullet, shrapnel" severed an artery. He and Williams were in the same platoon.
"I can't tell you how bad I wanted to go back and join my company," said the Riverside, Calif., native who turned 19 on July 4. His wounds will likely keep him out of action for months to come.
The emotionally charged crowd had to wait more than an hour in stifling heat for their loved ones to arrive via chartered bus from Robins Air Force Base.
"We've been waiting seven months," said Willie Williams, a minister from Ozark, Ala. "What's another hour?"
The Williams family had come to welcome Sgt. Latasha Williams, a cook with the 203rd.
"We never really worried much about her safety," Willie Williams said. "We knew she was in God's hands."
As soon as the troops were able to mingle with their families and friends, Latasha Williams grabbed her 3-year-old daughter, Desiree.
"Every minute I was over there, I thought of little else but holding my little girl," she said between kisses. "I'm just so happy to be home."
Several babies were born to the wives of 3rd Brigade soldiers while the troops were serving in the Gulf.
Five-month-old Keilani Knapp was one of them.
"She's beautiful," Spc. Jarrod Knapp told his wife, Heather. "I can't begin to express to you the way I feel right now. These two are all I could think of after the real fighting ended. It all seems so unreal."
Heather told anyone who would listen how proud she was not only of her husband but of the entire brigade.
"Every time I turned on the TV, I heard the 3rd ID doing this, the 3rd ID doing that," she said. "They really did do a good job, don't you think?"
Though the wait may have been an hour or more, the welcome-home ceremony lasted but 10 minutes. And in another 10 minutes, the gym was almost empty as the married soldiers and their families roared off in the cars and SUVs, the single soldiers headed for their barracks and the cleaning crew at the gym began making ready for the next arrival of troops, 3,600 strong, which may come as early as this weekend
------------------------------------------------------------ Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are just targets, Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." - Hericletus, circa 500 BC ----------------------------------------------------------- 
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