|
A Very Good Friday
Members of the 411th Engineer
Combat Battalion return after
a year in Iraq
Spc. Jared Dudoit has spent just two weeks with his wife and his three children -- including his newborn daughter -- in Makawao since he enlisted in the Army Reserve in March 2003.
One year in Baghdad marked a major change in Sgt. Dorsey Gates' life. He said he now wants to remain in the military as an Army chaplain.
And Staff Sgt. John Robinson plans to be back on the mat with his grapplers this week at Mililani High School, coaching and readying them for next month's U.S. National Wrestling Tournament in Las Vegas.
For more than 600 members of Lt. Col. Jonathan Wung's Hawaii-based Army Reserve 411th Engineer Combat Battalion, yesterday was more than just a Good Friday holiday.
It was the Hammerhead Battalion's long-awaited homecoming at Wheeler Army Airfield.
Half of those 600 soldiers are from Hawaii, while the rest come from outside the state. They include 100 from Guam, 40 from American Samoa, 60 from Alaska and 100 other soldiers whom the Army Reserve assigned from units in 26 other states to round out the battalion.
The Army Reserve said these 300 soldiers will go through the demobilization process during the next weeks at Schofield Barracks before they are released and sent home.
Col. Clyde Yoshimura, deputy commander of the Army Reserve's 9th Regional Readiness Command, noted that it was a year ago yesterday that the Hammerhead Battalion boarded buses at Schofield Barracks Quad D and left for Iraq.
Sgt. Dorsey Gates was among the 600 members of the Army Reserve's 411th Engineer Battalion reuniting with family and friends yesterday after a year in Iraq. Greeting him were wife Julie and daughters Alana, 3 1/2, and Alyssa, 6 1/2 months, who was born while he was in Iraq.
However, two 411th soldiers, Staff Sgt. Juanita Wilson and Sgt. Aaron Carvalho of Alpha Company from Hilo, were badly injured by a bomb when their convoy was attacked.
Wilson, who lost part of an arm, continues physical therapy treatments at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Carvalho was released from Tripler Army Medical Center in December and is attending classes to become a police officer.
Jae Young Wung, Wung's wife, said she is "very relieved" that her husband will finally be home and the two can think about starting a family.
Gates, a 1984 Castle High School graduate, said he did not go to Iraq intending to become a minister. "In the Bible, the prophets went into the desert seeking the Lord," said Gates, who has been in the military for nine years. "I didn't seek the desert, but there the Lord found me."
After kissing his two daughters, Gates said: "It's awesome. Good to be home with my wife and my daughters and my mom and dad. I just plan to catch up being with my family."
His younger daughter, Alyssa, was born Aug. 28 while he was in Iraq.
Amee Dudoit, 27, said her husband, Jared, got his first glimpse of their youngest daughter, Jaramy Ray, when the infant was a few days old when he returned to Maui on Thanksgiving leave.
She said that when Jared had enlisted in the Army Reserve in March 2003, he never thought he would be placed on active duty and have to fight in Iraq. Jared Dudoit was in basic training when the 411th was mobilized, and he left for Iraq a year later.
At the last minute, she decided to surprise her husband and flew to Honolulu with their three children to meet him at Wheeler Army Airfield yesterday morning.
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]
