Editor’s note: This article ran in the February 4, 2005, issue.
By Sgt. Jon Wiley
Mountaineer staff
FORT CARSON, Colo. — About 150 Soldiers from the 32nd Transportation Company and 993rd Medical Detachment triumphantly marched into the Special Events Center Saturday after serving almost a year in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Hundreds of their friends and family members from all around the country packed into the center to give them a heroes’ welcome home. When the Soldiers entered the center, the crowd roared with approval and support for a job well-done.
“We’re extremely proud of what you’ve accomplished, and we’re glad to have you back home,” said Brig. Gen. Joseph Orr, deputy commanding general, 7th Infantry Division and Fort Carson.
One proud relative, Edward Richards, traveled from Columbus, Ohio, to greet his returning grandson, Pfc. Adam Richards with the 32nd Trans. Co.
“He doesn’t expect us, but we had to be here,” said Richards.
Richards, who served 42 years in the Army, from 1956 to 1998, said he fully supported his grandson’s decision to enlist.
“He left a week after turning 18. He said he was following in his granddad’s footsteps,” Richards said.
Another family member, Demetrius Harris, greeted his wife Sgt. Patricia Harris with the 32nd Trans. Co.
Before leaving the Army in 2000, Harris had deployed, but the role of spouse of a deployed Soldier was new to him. He said his wife’s absence was difficult for him and his two boys to adjust to, but they managed.
“I kind of wish I was the one out there, but this is the plan we worked up,” he said.
In his wife’s absence, Harris worked, went to school and took care of their children.
In his address, Orr acknowledged the importance of spouses like Harris to the overall success of the Army’s mission.
“It’s you, the husbands and wives, who proudly serve our nation as well. We can’t do what we do without you,” Orr said.
Orr also told the returning Soldiers to continue to serve with distinction.
“Be safe. It’s a dangerous world outside of the gates of Fort Carson. You performed magnificently in Iraq; I ask you to perform magnificently back here at Fort Carson,” he said.