thedrifter
10-13-06, 08:53 AM
'Welcome home!' Staff Sgt. Daley
By Margo Rutledge Kissell and Cathy Mong
Staff Writers
Friday, October 13, 2006
McKenzie, Sheyanne and Dakota Daley fidgeted at Exit 15, their little hearts pumping, eager to race to their daddy, Staff Sgt. Bernard (Bernie) Daley, who arrived at Dayton International Airport on Thursday afternoon after serving eight months in Iraq.
Daley's wife of 13 years, Marie, and the kids — ages 4, 10 and 11, respectively — ran to embrace him as bewildered travelers stared, then applauded after realizing the reason for the assembly of the Rolling Thunder Color Guard, a group of veterans, standing at attention.
"Welcome home!" someone yelled.
Daley, 33, joined the Marines at 18 and will retire in four years. He is a communications chief and is among about 70 members of Marine Reserve Military Police Company C who will be returning in waves during the next week. "It's been a long deployment," Daley said.
The reservists left Jan. 1 from the reserve center in Dayton and spent two months training in Twentynine Palms, Calif. They are now back in California undergoing "decompression training" to help them shift back into their civilian lives.
They are to take commercial flights back to the Miami Valley in groups, said Maj. Lowell Rector, Marine Reserve commander of "Charlie" company.
The MPs served a variety of missions, primarily in the volatile Al Anbar Province.
"What's going on in Iraq right now is they are building Iraqi security forces to include Iraqi Police Service, or IPS, and the Iraqi Army. For the most part, this company supported those missions," Rector said, noting their job included providing security for convoys.
Halfway through their deployment, the platoons' jobs shifted to providing security along the borders with Syria and Jordan, Rector said.
As Daley, his wife and children, mother and little sister walked through two long lines of Rolling Thunder and Patriot Guide members, someone threw him the keys to his 1998 Harley Davidson, parked outside.
After donning his leathers and lighting another cigarette, Daley straddled the bike, his wife clutching his waist. A police escort led the way to the Daleys' base housing. Daley's father, Bernie, strode across the parking lot, smiling. "My heart's in my throat," he said. "As long as he came home all right, that's all I care about."
Ellie
By Margo Rutledge Kissell and Cathy Mong
Staff Writers
Friday, October 13, 2006
McKenzie, Sheyanne and Dakota Daley fidgeted at Exit 15, their little hearts pumping, eager to race to their daddy, Staff Sgt. Bernard (Bernie) Daley, who arrived at Dayton International Airport on Thursday afternoon after serving eight months in Iraq.
Daley's wife of 13 years, Marie, and the kids — ages 4, 10 and 11, respectively — ran to embrace him as bewildered travelers stared, then applauded after realizing the reason for the assembly of the Rolling Thunder Color Guard, a group of veterans, standing at attention.
"Welcome home!" someone yelled.
Daley, 33, joined the Marines at 18 and will retire in four years. He is a communications chief and is among about 70 members of Marine Reserve Military Police Company C who will be returning in waves during the next week. "It's been a long deployment," Daley said.
The reservists left Jan. 1 from the reserve center in Dayton and spent two months training in Twentynine Palms, Calif. They are now back in California undergoing "decompression training" to help them shift back into their civilian lives.
They are to take commercial flights back to the Miami Valley in groups, said Maj. Lowell Rector, Marine Reserve commander of "Charlie" company.
The MPs served a variety of missions, primarily in the volatile Al Anbar Province.
"What's going on in Iraq right now is they are building Iraqi security forces to include Iraqi Police Service, or IPS, and the Iraqi Army. For the most part, this company supported those missions," Rector said, noting their job included providing security for convoys.
Halfway through their deployment, the platoons' jobs shifted to providing security along the borders with Syria and Jordan, Rector said.
As Daley, his wife and children, mother and little sister walked through two long lines of Rolling Thunder and Patriot Guide members, someone threw him the keys to his 1998 Harley Davidson, parked outside.
After donning his leathers and lighting another cigarette, Daley straddled the bike, his wife clutching his waist. A police escort led the way to the Daleys' base housing. Daley's father, Bernie, strode across the parking lot, smiling. "My heart's in my throat," he said. "As long as he came home all right, that's all I care about."
Ellie