Family and friends welcome Company F home

by Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com)

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Member of South Bend-based Company F

Member of South Bend-based Company F were reunited with family and friends in Indianapolis on April, 30, 2008. They returned from a 10-month tour in Iraq.

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Apr 30, 2008 at 5:12 PM EST

Story Updated: Apr 30, 2008 at 5:12 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS — It was a long ten months, but dozens of local families are finally reunited with members of South Bend-based Company F. More than 150 National Guard members arrived in Indianapolis late Wednesday afternoon.

It's a day they, their friends and families have been waiting for since they deployed last June.

They are all back home tonight, not one even injured in the 10 months they spent in Iraq — an answered prayer for 160 Hoosier families.

When Nicholas Quiett's dad left for Iraq nearly a year ago, he wasn't walking or talking. A lot has changed in ten months.

"He's a little boy; he's not a baby anymore,” Heather Stephens said of her son. “And he misses daddy, huh buddy?”

But Wednesday, the Quiett family and hundreds of others are preparing to welcome home their Hoosier heroes.

It's been a long and grueling wait.

“You wonder a lot how he's gonna come back,” one family member told WSBT News.

“You panic … you're scared,” another said.

“These guys were escorting convoys in the Baghdad area and around the international airport as well as inside of Baghdad which, as you well know, is some of the most dangerous terrain in Iraq,” explained Brig. Gen. Clif Tooley.

They covered a million miles and a thousand missions.

But Wednesday, the panic and fear gave way to excitement.

“It's the happiest day of my life other than maybe when all my kids were born,” a family member said.

And finally relief. As families moved inside to anxiously wait, minutes later outside, mission accomplished.

“It's good to be home,” said Spc. Hunter Maclean of South Bend. “We did our job and we're done finally.”

“It's very good to see him, I’m excited ... it's been too long,” said Spc. Zach Quiett of Mishawaka.

After an evening with their families, they'll return for demobilization for a few days. Then, it will be home for good ... or until their next deployment.

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