In Alaska, troops return home to chills and cheers

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA —  The first soldiers with the 172nd Stryker Brigade returning from Iraq arrived in Alaska on Saturday to bone-chilling weather and welcoming cheers.

Friends and family gathered at Ft. Wainwright near Fairbanks to welcome about 625 members of the brigade who served an extended tour in Iraq. An additional 200 soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the brigade arrived at Ft. Richardson near Anchorage.

As buses pulled into a cavernous building at Ft. Wainwright, cheers went up from the waiting crowd. The roar continued as soldiers got out and lined up in formation. Soon after, they were hugging their loved ones.

“Go easy on them. They’re tired and a little chilly,” Col. Robert Ball -- the second highest-ranking Army officer in Alaska -- told the families earlier.

Brigade members will be arriving each day until Dec. 5, according to Army officials.

Most of about 3,800 soldiers will return to Ft. Wainwright, where the brigade is stationed.

The soldiers are returning after 16 months in Iraq. They served their first year in northern Iraq, based out of Mosul, in what was the largest combat deployment of Alaska-based troops since the Vietnam War. The 172nd worked with Iraqi army and police forces, training them and conducting searches and patrols.

After the brigade began returning to Alaska in July, its tour was extended four more months to help quell violence in Baghdad. About 300 soldiers had already returned from Iraq and were sent back after the extension.

Seven brigade soldiers died during the extension, which followed the deaths of 19 brigade soldiers during the original deployment.

Many families at Ft. Wainwright on Saturday brought warm clothing for the soldiers, who came home to temperatures as cold as minus 32 degrees -- a 102-degree difference from Baghdad. Reunions varied between romantic and boisterous.

“Oh, he’s here!” said Tamatha Zavodsky, jumping up to get a glimpse of her husband, Sgt. Maj. Dennis Zavodsky.

Soldiers embraced toddlers or cradled infants they were meeting for the first time. Some single soldiers were met by families of other soldiers.

Some of the crowd, like Sue Ulibarri, didn’t have a soldier returning on the first flights, but came anyway to gear up for their own reunions. Ulibarri’s 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.