the last of the 102nd are home

and i welcome you and i thank you (we all do)

National Guard members return to Connecticut

(Windsor Locks-WTNH)_It was a third and final homecoming today for the New Haven based 102nd Infantry Battalion. Fifty unit members arrived at Bradley International Airport this afternoon to the loving arms of wives, husbands, children and parents.
After a year in Afghanistan and almost a year and a half away from home, the members of the 102nd were recognized while they were in Afghanistan for holding off Taliban forces, so that Afghan security forces could arrive. During their stay, they participated in search and seizure operations, working with the Afghan security forces and the Afghan National Army. They spent the past month taking warrior leader courses at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, but today it was all about just being with family.
Jessica Koeler of Meriden said her husband has been away since January of last year. .............

as a coincidence

i posted a welcome home to the 102nd yesterday. well i was mindin' my own bid-nez (as everyone knows i do).....

i saw someone with a 102nd infantry tee on. i asked him if he had just gotten home and he was shocked and surprised and said yes, and asked how i knew. (well i knew because i read it in the papers and saw it on the news).

anyway, ANOTHER welcome home and one big one to my new friend dave!

may you all slide right back into your former lives.

welcome back to the 102nd infantry out of new haven

we're all happy you're home! of course our thoughts were (and are) with the family and friends of sgt phaenuf

Warm welcome home for Conn. troops

by News Channel 8's Jamie Muro

(Windsor Locks-WTNH) _ Members of the 102nd Infantry Battalion of New Haven returned home Saturday after a one-year tour in Afghanistan.
Grandmother Lenor Rodriguez was waiting for her son and her grandson, Luis and Joshua Amaro. They are possibly the first father to follow son into service since the Civil War.
"I'm just thankful to God that they're here. They had a victory," said Lenor............

................One father is absent to hug his son and the rest of his family. Staff Sergeant Joseph Phaenuf was killed in action in December.
"His efforts did not go forgotten, he paid the ultimate sacrifice. The reason why they are here today, he's part of it," said Lt. Col. John Whitford..............