Camarillo Gives the Troops a Rousing Welcome : Homecoming: Thousands turn out along a one-mile route for the county’s first parade of returnees from the war.

Their manner and dress were military, but many of the more than 100 local Desert Storm troops marching in the county’s first welcome-home parade Saturday couldn’t help cracking a smile.

The crowd, waving flags, cheering and throwing kisses, softened the best of them, despite orders to stare straight ahead.

“Being in the military, you can’t run over to people and hug them,” said First Lt. Theresa Kiefer, a flight nurse with the California Air National Guard. “It’s a wonderful feeling and it’s really hard not to stand in the middle of the street and cry to see all your neighbors come out and say welcome home.”

Parade organizers estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 people turned out along the one-mile Camarillo route, greeting the troops with thumbs up, hearty applause and lavishly decorated signs.

“This is neat,” said Jacque Garoutte of Oxnard. “Oh, I’ve got the goose pimples.”

The men and women who have returned in recent weeks from assignments in the Middle East and Europe expressed both surprise and delight at the crowd’s enthusiasm. One military unit has been invited to 14 parades from here to Hollywood.

“I did 18 months in Vietnam and I didn’t get a homecoming like this,” said construction electrician Chief Craig Flanagan, who works with the Seabees.

“I’ve had total strangers come up to me and say thank-you,” Flanagan said, his eyes brimming with tears. “It’s hard to describe. . . . This is for all of us.”

The crowd sprawled on the lawn at Camarillo City Hall after the parade for an afternoon of patriotic songs and speeches from political and military leaders.

“Today’s the end of an era and the beginning of a homecoming,” said Camarillo Mayor David Smith. “I feel we’re different as a nation because of what has happened. There’s a feeling of pride among Americans that we have not seen in 25 years.”

As the troops trickle home, families across the Southland continue to plan festivities, reminding one another to remember those still serving in the Middle East.

“It’s bittersweet,” Lynn Ramirez said of the parade. Her husband, involved with military intelligence, is not yet home, nor does she know his whereabouts.

“I shed my tears of happiness for everybody else, but I have really mixed emotions about the fact that he comes and goes,” the 39-year-old Ventura teacher said of her husband. “It’s like being married to James Bond.”

Ramirez’s friend from a county support group agreed.

“I wish they’d wait till all of them came home,” said 44-year-old Lorraine Carmona of Oxnard, whose husband is still serving in the Middle East. “July Fourth will be incredible this year.”