Family near, far for 39th returnees

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - Sgt. 1st Class Stevie Junior stirred scrambled eggs into his grits Thursday morning in yet another Army chow hall.

The Sparkman native was still tired from the long trek back to America the day before, as were the rest of the soldiers who returned with Alpha Troop, 151st Cavalry Regiment of Arkansas'39th Infantry Brigade.

The 160 soldiers are the first of the brigade's troops to return from Iraq. The remaining 3,000 soldiers will follow in coming weeks.

They marched into the CampShelby theater at 9 p.m. Wednesday, where a small, tearful, cheering crowd waited. Babies sat in the laps of many young mothers who were eager to introduce them to their daddies.

The wait became almost unbearable for some in the last minutes before the soldiers' arrival.

"We're counting down," said Ashley Cates of El Dorado asshe bounced 7-month-old Braxton on her knee. "It's been so hard."

Her husband, Spc. Adam Cates, was just down the road, turning in the rifle he has carried for the past year.

Soon, police sirens screamed outside the building, announcing that the soldiers were about to arrive.

After a short ceremony, Sgt. Jermell Heath of Texas held his 7-month-old daughter, Jenesis, tight to his chest.

"That's Momma's, honey," Heath's wife, Joeanna, told their baby, reaching over to stroke the baby's hair.

"You can take her back to the barracks," she joked to her husband. "I'll just pick you two up later."

Not taking his eyes off his daughter, Heath replied, "Don't think I won't."

While some families greeted soldiers upon their arrival at this south Mississippi Army post Wednesday night, most reunions will wait a few days until the soldiers arrive back in Arkansas. Camp Shelby is hundreds of miles from home, an expensive trip for many families, and there was still a bit of work to be done.

For those soldiers, Thursday was just another holiday at another Army post far from home.

Staff Sgt. Russell Stinnett of Chidester was quick to point outthat they're not alone. These soldiers have one another.

"That's family," he said, nodding toward his fellow soldiers at the table.

Junior looked up from his grits and eggs, and added, "Deployments always turn folks into family."

These soldiers know that better than most.

The 39th deployed for Iraq in March for its second tour of duty in the war zone. Soldiers from across the state joined the brigade on this deployment tohelp fill out the ranks.

Alpha Troop had been on American soil just over 12 hours when the soldiers gathered for breakfast. The day was open for them to do as they pleased. Those with families there spent the day at area hotels, and those without, spent the day in their cinder-block barracks at Camp Shelby.

Staff Sgt. Robert Linck of Conway said it doesn't feel like home - yet. Home is still far away, both in the soldiers' minds and in distance.

"I woke up at 4:30 this morning," Stinnett said. "That's 1:30 p.m. Iraq time. That's what time we got up over there, because we worked nights. So I'm still on Baghdad time."

But home is a whole lot closer than it was a day earlier.

"At least they can go out and look up in the sky and see pine trees and not have to worry about hearing something they don't want to hear [like explosions]," said Capt. Lance Westbrook of Benton, Alpha Troop commander.

He added that demobilization, the administrative process of shifting soldiers back to civilian life, "is something that has to be done."

This is the first step for these soldiers to return to their former lives.

"Settling them back in, it won't be easy. It never is," Westbrook said. "It's just that it happened over Thanksgiving, that's all."

The Thanksgiving Day plan was simple.

"We're going to be here three times today," Linck said, looking around the tiny dining facility.

"We may take a walk, play some cards, rest," Junior added.

The only indication that this day was different in the world of the Army was breakfast. Plastic tablecloths draped the tables on which vases of plastic fall flowers rested.

The usual civilian food workers were replaced by Arkansas National Guard leader's Thursday, with Brig. Gen. William Johnson, deputy adjutant general, ladling grits into plastic foam bowls and Maj. Gen. Bill Wofford, Arkansas' adjutant general, spooning up eggs, sausage and toast.

"It was weird," Junior said with a smile and folded another spoonful of eggs into his grits.