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We had no idea what was about to happen. The setting is Starker Gym, Fort Hood Texas. Our son, a 3-year Iraqi war vet, was coming home after his first tour and we were going to Texas to greet him. The soldiers were supposed to be at Ft. Hood by 4 p.m. Steve called us from Maine, explaining the plane was having mechanical problems and they wouldn't be there until 1 a.m. We didn't care... he was coming home!
We were one of the first to walk into the gym at midnight. Our first surprise was when we noticed all the signs posted all around the gym. They were everywhere! As the gym began to fill up, the second surprise happened, and it was rather stark! Young Mothers came in carrying babies. My wife and I looked at each other and immediately realized, Dad has been gone and has not yet seen the baby. We both had tears in our eyes, realizing what war does to a family.
The 3rd surprise, and it shouldn't have been, the gym was packed, standing room only. The gym floor was covered in large tarps. Why? They had a DJ in the corner playing music that people were dancing to, because their loved one was coming home. Needless to say, it was an unexpected festive atmosphere, Surprise #4.
A SFC (Sergeant First Class) was the MC. He would give updates as to where the plane was along its journey from Maine. When the plane was nearing Ft. Hood, he instructed everyone to take a seat. Everyone in the gym was now anticipating seeing their loved one for the first time in over a year.
The soldiers were going to be taken by bus from the air strip at Ft. Hood over to Starker gym. It's now well past 2 a.m. Nobody cared! The moment we were all waiting for was here and the entire gym was literally on the edge of their seats. The MC grabbed the microphone, walked to the middle of the gym floor and announced, "The soldiers are right outside!" The entire gym was on their feet and we heard something I had never heard before, as the explosion of cheers was unexplainable. It was so loud that chills ran up and down your entire body.
There was a smoke machine staged right in front of the doors that the soldiers would be running through. The DJ started playing "Eye of the Tiger" and you became a part of something that would never be forgotten. And then, before the first soldier broke through the doorway, the MC would "take the roof off the place" when he shouted into the microphone, "Did you know…this group of soldiers is part of the Big Red One (First Infantry Division)… and they are responsible for capturing Saddam Hussein!!!" There are no words to describe what happened at that moment. Then the first soldier broke through the doorway. Complete pandemonium! NO, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE! May we vote accordingly!