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http://www.boston.com/news/local/ar...ion_accomplished_for_guard_unit_and_families/
Sergeant First Class![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
NEWBURYPORT - A smiling Sergeant Gregg Stefanik of Dalton, dressed in a camouflage uniform and combat boots, bent down yesterday to greet his small, giggling daughters and his niece at a soldiers' homecoming ceremony at Newburyport High School.
"This time around, it wasn't as bad," said Stefanik, recalling his second tour in Iraq. "I pretty much knew what was coming."
Stefanik, who was also deployed to Iraq in 2005, was one of 106 National Guard soldiers from the 182d Engineer Sapper Company who were formally honored yesterday for their yearlong tour.
The ceremony was held three months after the unit returned.
Four members of the unit were awarded the Purple Heart for their wounds: Stefanik, Specialist Anthony Klufts, Specialist First Class Michael St. Cyr, and First Lieutenant Willie Coates.
Thirteen soldiers received Bronze Stars, and more than 60 received Combat Action Badges.
"I remember it was a rainy day that I asked you to lend me your soldiers," Captain James Herrick said to the audience of more than 500 gathered in the Newburyport High School auditorium. "The biggest relief I had was . . . to bring all these soldiers back home."
The 182d was nicknamed the "Red Sox" in Iraq, Herrick said. The unit did an "outstanding job" of finding and removing roadside bombs across Iraq, he said.
"It was rewarding because we knew every time we found an IED [improvised explosive device], we saved lives," said Herrick, 38, of Southbridge.
In another happy homecoming, 15 members of the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield returned Friday night from a six-month deployment to Iraq.
The men and women had guarded Baghdad International Airport. They were greeted at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut by overjoyed family members and friends.
"Our mission went well, and we're thrilled to be home again with our families," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Green of Southwick said in a statement.
In Newburyport, wives and mothers of the local National Guard Family Readiness Group spent Friday cooking and preparing for the ceremony, said Kathy Klufts, mother of 21-year-old Specialist Klufts of Amesbury and coordinator of the group.
After the Newburyport-based unit was deployed on June 7, 2007, Klufts said, the family readiness group held monthly meetings that included Halloween parties, discussions on post traumatic stress disorder, and even a spa day for mothers and spouses.
The Guard members returned home exactly a year later. Klufts has continued to hold monthly events for the soldiers to get together, including a cookout in July and a get-together at the Yankee Homecoming parade in August.
"We wanted them to have the chance to be with each other," Klufts said. "It's different than the Army or Marines. When reservists and National Guardsmen come back, it's, like, 'Here you go, go back to your life.' "
"We didn't all keep in touch as much as we thought we would," said Staff Sergeant Dominic Whitamore. "Everyone needed a break. . . . But 90 days is long enough to get your mind unwound."
Since the company's return, most of the soldiers have used their time off to relax, Whitamore said.
"They just take the first few days to relax, unwind," he said. "A lot of the guys renewed their vows, went on trips with their friends.
"It feels good to be back. Iraq, it seems almost surreal. It's hard to remember almost."
More than 30 sons, daughters, and siblings took to the stage to receive awards for enduring the soldiers' absences and to shake hands with soldiers, elected officials, and Veterans Affairs representatives.
The officials, including US Representative John F. Tierney, (Democrat of Salem), and state Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Methuen Democrat, commended the families of the soldiers.
"We are enormously grateful for your service," Tierney said. "Every spouse and child . . . [is] part of our national security."
"He looks older, a lot stronger, more serious," Devin Woolf, 16, of Randolph said of her brother Michael Astrofsky. "You can definitely tell he's in the military."
Woolf said her father was also deployed to Kosovo for 18 months before he returned last November.
"It was nice to have the whole family together again" when her brother returned in June, she said.
Sergeant First Class
