JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Toni Hadley couldn't hold back tears of joy as she kissed her husband, Chief Warrant Officer David Hadley, at last night's welcoming ceremonies for members of the 536th Maintenance Company returning from deployment to Schofield Barracks. The group had been deployed in Mosul, Iraq, since last September.

Safe return

The final isle-based Army soldiers
sent to Iraq are back home in
the eager embrace of family

The last unit of Hawaii-based Army soldiers to return from Iraq flew home yesterday after spending the past year fixing trucks and escorting supply convoys in the Middle East.

Hundreds of family members and friends greeted 151 soldiers from 536th Maintenance Company with loud cheers during a welcome home ceremony at a Schofield Barracks gymnasium.

"I've been waiting for this moment. Too long, way too long," said Spc. Christina Mariscal, as she looked at her 21-month-old son and husband. "I'm glad to be home safe. Everything is good now."

Sent to Iraq last September, the company repaired trucks, radios and other communications equipment for U.S. and coalition troops around the northern city of Mosul for the past year.

They were among the 4,000 soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division (Light) sent to Iraq since the start of the war in 2003. An additional 5,000 soldiers from the division were sent to Afghanistan.

Mariscal, 22, of Las Vegas, said her son, Alberto Jr., hadn't been walking when she came home on leave nine months ago, but now he was on his feet.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Six-month-old Elias Schnabel wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry while sharing a tender moment with his father, Sgt. Webster Schnabel, who returned last night.

Her husband, Alberto Sr., said he showed his son pictures of his mother while she was away, and the child would kiss them.

Sgt. Webster Schnabel of Makaha saw his 4-month-old son for only the second time since he came back for his birth in May.

Schnabel said he wanted to do "the normal things" now that he's back, like relax and spend time with his wife, Leah, their two daughters and son.

"You appreciate things a little more," Schnabel said. "Being in the Army, you realize you never know when you're going to be gone."

All members of the company returned safely to Hawaii.

Altogether, 13 soldiers from Schofield Barracks have been killed in Iraq. An additional 15 have died in Afghanistan.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii still has a battalion of 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, though all its troops in Iraq have already returned home.

About 80 percent of the Hawaii Army National Guard, or about 2,400 citizen soldiers, meanwhile, are currently in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM Army Reserve Sgt. Keenan Lau, a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Brigade Combat Team, met yesterday with 55 students at Holy Nativity School to talk about his first six months stationed in Iraq.

Sergeant details
life at war

The reservist tells Holy Nativity students
that his unit is experiencing fewer attacks

A 100th Battalion sergeant says his Army Reserve unit is attacked less frequently now compared with the first months of its deployment in Iraq.

Sgt. Keenan Lau, who graduated from Saint Louis School five years ago, said when his Army Reserve unit arrived at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, 30 miles north of Baghdad, in mid-March, "it was pretty bad. Since then, the attacks have gone down and the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) also have gone down."

"The insurgents are targeting citizens and not U.S. military personnel in an attempt to demoralize them," he said.

Lau, who celebrated his 23rd birthday Aug. 11 in Iraq, talked with reporters yesterday after meeting with 55 Holy Nativity School students in Aina Haina. As part of their classes on current events, students in the school's fourth, fifth and sixth grades asked him about Iraq, said Bob Whiting, the school's principal.

Lau will return to his unit Friday after a two-week leave. He said his unit has been "very fortunate," since his platoon has been attacked only six times and escaped with minor injuries.

"It could have been worse," said Lau, a member of Delta Company, which patrols the western sector of Balad.

Lau also was a member of the quick-reaction force, which was called out when Hawaii National Guardsman Sgt. Deyson "Dice" Cariaga was killed on July 8 near Balad.

Sixth-grader Jonathan Jeffreyes, 11, said he found Lau's talk "kind of scary."

"He was talking about living in a tent knowing at any time the enemy might strike," he said.

But Jeffreyes said he was impressed about how Lau and his fellow soldiers spent their free time: Watching DVD movies on a large screen television in their air-conditioned trailers or playing video games or basketball and softball. "I didn't know they had all that," he said.

Isabella Hastings, 11, also said Lau's talk was "scary," but added, "it was comforting to have all those friends around you."

Lau, who has two cousins attending Holy Nativity, later said he was not at the school as a recruiter for the Army, but only "to enlighten these kids."

Asked what kind of work he does, Lau told the students that his job is similar to a Honolulu police officer. "I drive around and look for the bad guys," Lau said.

Asked why he joined the military, Lau told the students he joined because of the educational benefits, which help pay for his college education, and also for "a sense of patriotism."

He told the children that "every U.S. citizen should serve," but it doesn't have to be in the military. "It can be by volunteering or trying to help people like donating a bag of rice or donating even the penny you found on the ground."