This story originally ran in the Nov. 6, 2006, issue of the News-Miner.
It was 32 below zero on Fort Wainwright on Saturday morning, a 102-degree difference from Baghdad, where hundreds of soldiers with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team had been stationed just a couple of days ago. But bitter cold and foggy, icy windows on the buses they rode from Eielson Air Force Base couldn’t dampen the warm welcome awaiting from friends and family.
Before the soldiers arrived at Fort Wainwright, Col. Robert Ball, deputy commander of U.S. Army Alaska, briefed the anxious and excited crowd of family and friends.
“Go easy on them. They’re tired and a little chilly,” Ball said.
When the soldiers arrived, they lined up in formation about 50 feet in front of the crowd, with families and soldiers facing each other and loud cheers echoing throughout the large building.
“Oh, he’s here!” said Tamatha Zavodsky, jumping up to get a glimpse of her husband, Sgt. Maj. Dennis Zavodsky, in formation.
Ball commended the soldiers and their families in his 37-second speech, timed by one of Zavodsky’s sons. And finally, after 16 months of being thousands miles and a war apart, the distance between families and soldiers closed as they rushed into each other’s arms.
More than 600 soldiers arrived in Fairbanks between the two flights Saturday. An additional 200 were bound for Anchorage. About 3,800 soldiers with the brigade are scheduled to arrive in Fairbanks over the next 10 days. Twenty-six died during the deployment.
The brigade served the first year of its tour in northern Iraq, where it was based out of Mosul.
In late summer, as the brigade was preparing to return to Alaska, its tour was extended four months and the soldiers were sent to Baghdad to help combat violence there.
Reunions between families Saturday ranged from seriously romantic to boisterous and joyous. Soldiers coming home to young children sank to their knees to embrace their toddlers or cradled infants they had never met. Young couples shared long, steamy kisses. Single soldiers were introduced to their buddy’s wife and kids and promised a hot meal in the next couple of days. Then they lined up to board buses to their hotel rooms or barracks.
At least two-thirds of the first flight Saturday consisted of soldiers who did not have family members waiting to greet them.
The Family Readiness Groups for the battalions had prepared the single soldiers’ barracks, supplying blankets, snacks, razors and shaving cream and other comforts. And even though some families couldn’t be there in person, many across the country were breathing sighs of relief as they received word their soldiers were in Alaska.
Molly Nava and a group from the brigade Support Battalion were busy on their cell phones, calling families across the country, letting them know their soldier was en route to Fairbanks.
“That they are on a plane out of Iraq, that’s all they care about,” Nava said.
In some cases, single soldiers were met by the families of other soldiers.
Zavodsky, who was on hand with two sons to greet her husband, also had been tasked with finding Capt. Jerry O’Dowd, who didn’t have any family to greet him. O’Dowd’s mother in Georgia had sent up a box of cookies to give her son. O’Dowd’s girlfriend in Savannah had sent a banner welcoming him home, which was hanging among the dozens of signs in the building.
O’Dowd was pleasantly surprised when Zavodsky gave him the cookies and told him about the banner.
“Wow,” was all he said, tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at his mother’s handwriting on the box of cookies and walked off to find his banner.
Even families who didn’t have a soldier returning on the first flights came to welcome the other soldiers. Sue Ulibarri brought her two children Saturday. Her husband, Sgt. Maj. William Ulibarri, isn’t due in Fairbanks until later in the week.
“But this is the most exciting thing happening in Fairbanks,” she said.
The excitement was also an adjustment for the soldiers. Spc. Miriam Apalsch nodded when asked if the event was overwhelming.
“A little,” she said. “I don’t think it has really hit yet.”
Apalsch was met by her parents and sister. Upon her arrival, she was given a bouquet of flowers and a Ziploc bag of her mother’s homemade bacon and onion perogies.
She dug into the goodies immediately following a round of hugs.
“She has a list a mile long of things she wants me to make,” Apalsch’s mother said. “This is just one of them.”
Most soldiers have many lists to tackle now that they’re home: things they want to do, food they’re craving to eat, people they should call.
But first, there’s just getting back into normal life and establishing themselves in Fairbanks again.
“I need to get a block heater installed today,” said Capt. Jeffrey Canning, who doesn’t have family in the area. “We were supposed to come back in the summer, so it wasn’t an issue.”
A new wardrobe of civilian clothing was also a priority.
“I’ve got basically what I’m wearing now,” said the captain, in his desert fatigues. “I don’t think I can go out drinking tonight in this.”
Canning said he also plans to work on adjusting to “not being in Iraq,” a sentiment Lt. Michael Williams agreed with.
“It’s kind of hard to go from sand to snow,” Williams said.