Entire Guard unit returns alive after year in Iraq
Tracee M. Herbaugh
Published June 27, 2008 at 8:23 p.m.
Photo by Tim Hussin / The Rocky
The doors open Friday at an airplane hangar at Buckley Air Force Base to reveal the 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group during a welcome-home ceremony. Everyone in the group survived in their tour in Iraq. The battalion has members from Texas and California but only 170 from Colorado were on hand for the ceremony.
Photo by Tim Hussin / The Rocky
Jonetta Wright, above, listens to a welcome-home presentation for a Colorado National Guard unit Friday at Buckley Air Force base. Wright's nephew, Timothy Bauer, served with the Green Berets in Iraq.
Photo by Tim Hussin / The Rocky
Maj. Marc Patterson leads returning Green Berets as they stand at attention.
The homecoming of a Colorado National Guard unit was made even sweeter by a claim few could make after a year in Iraq.
"Our greatest accomplishment is that we brought every single soldier back alive. Other units cannot say the same, and we are saddened at the number of losses we witnessed when we were over there," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Chavez, commander of the 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group.
Soldiers celebrated Friday in an airplane hangar at Buckley Air Force Base adorned with American flags, "welcome home" signs, and red, white and blue banners.
The battalion also has members from Texas and California, but only the 170 from Colorado were on hand for the ceremony.
Members of the unit were deployed throughout Iraq and returned to Colorado last week in staggered groups.
The guardsmen marched into the hangar as the crowd sang the national anthem.
Chavez said he was humbled by the turnout of about 300 friends and family members.
Soldiers face transition
"It's a big moment for the soldiers," he said. "A welcome home is a significant event that signals they are truly home, and they can now start transitioning back to civilian life."
Chavez noted the difficult transition some returning soldiers face and urged family members and friends to be supportive.
Sgt. Maj. John Lee, 42, responsible for recruiting in Colorado and a member of the National Guard for 23 years, said the battalion provided humanitarian assistance and carried out combat missions.
"The actions they had were full combat-related operations, like the soldiers that are being seen in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Lee, who added he was unable to discuss specifics because the missions are classified. "It was every bit of what you're seeing on the news and reading about."
Trever Hanson spent eight months in Iraq.
"It was hot. And it's good to be back," said the 26-year-old from Lakewood.
Marriage plans
Hanson plans to marry fiancee Jenny Kidd, who attended the ceremony, on Sept. 20.
"It was really hard, but I had a lot of family support," she said of Hanson's time away. Kidd said she cried a lot when she saw him for the first time last Saturday, the day he arrived in Colorado.
"I couldn't sleep the night before he came home," she said. "It's great to be here, but I almost cried at this ceremony, too."
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June 27, 2008
10:18 p.m.
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mrtaco writes:
tommy - you clearly should jump off a cliff.
June 28, 2008
9:20 a.m.
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Michael writes:
Tommy - Excellent point. As long as you brought up the governor, how about any/all of our Senators and Congressmen (& DeGette!)? Quite an accomplishment indeed and it shows by the fact that no casualties were sustained that progress IS being made, that the surge IS working, and the Iraqis ARE stepping up. God bless these and all our troops and congratulations on a great deployment.
June 28, 2008
10:17 a.m.
mrtaco writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
June 28, 2008
6:17 p.m.
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reddog writes:
Right on Tommy! Maybe mrtaco should latch onto the Gov's a-- and both jump off a cliff.
June 28, 2008
6:19 p.m.
reddog writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
June 28, 2008
7:21 p.m.
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usa2 writes:
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!!!!!! WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 28, 2008
7:41 p.m.
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mayday writes:
Welcome home guys, and thank you for a job well done.
June 28, 2008
7:46 p.m.
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mrtaco writes:
wife-beater? reddog, i wouldn't even harm a fly on your wife's mane.
June 28, 2008
8:22 p.m.
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joeblow writes:
Tommy, you don't have to jump off a cliff. I'm sure if you stand on the precipice, someone would be happy to 'lend you a hand.'
And, while I think it's great that this entire group came home safely, let us hope that before they left Iraq that each person got counselling for post traumatic issues that may come up. The fact that no one suffered physical injuries does not mean no one was 'injured'.
Also, the fact that everyone came home in one piece, does not mean a single thing with respect to progress in this unnecessary war.
May the souls of each of each of these young men and women who are this war's victims visit GWB each night of his life.
THIS WAR NEED NOT HAVE BEEN FOUGHT!
June 29, 2008
1:04 a.m.
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reddog writes:
Yep, I was right.
June 29, 2008
9:26 a.m.
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Kilroy writes:
I am so glad the troops returned safely. They have my respect. My biggest issue is they bear the burden while the rest of society watches NASCAR and American Idol. My guess is most of them joined the Guard as I did (served 10 yrs ARNG/ANG) expecting to be the backup for the Active Duty types while society mobilized and fed the draft. Only society has NOT been mobilized and the burden rests squarely on a heroic small percent of us and their families. It's somewhat like our army in the Pacific in 1942 except that war could not have been avoided the way Iraq could have been. I wish you well in patching up your civilian lives, troops, and hope you are not deployed again.
June 29, 2008
9:44 a.m.
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Buckwheat writes:
Yea, welcome home safe guys, you rock...
June 30, 2008
10:54 a.m.
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bugmenot writes:
"Our greatest accomplishment is that we brought every single soldier back alive. Other units cannot say the same, and we are saddened at the number of losses we witnessed when we were over there," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Chavez, commander of the 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group.
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That's really sad that troop welfare was the greatest accomplishment.
The purpose of our military is to fight and win our nation's wars. As important as troop welfare is, it MUST take a backseat to mission accomplishment.
How un-special.
Weak sauce.
July 2, 2008
11:16 a.m.
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zerolimit writes:
I would agree that accomplishing the mission is the highest priority. However, an even greater accomplishment is accomplishing the mission whilst being able to bring home everyone alive. I am sure that the guys who put their lives on the line every day performing dangerous special operations every day and night dealing with the complexity of the Iraqi war up front and personal would believe coming home was the greatest accomplishment.
I am also pretty sure the unit would have slots available for you to put your life where your mouth is.
July 3, 2008
8:23 p.m.
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bugmenot writes:
zerolimit writes:
"I am also pretty sure the unit would have slots available for you to put your life where your mouth is."
I belong to a unit like this one. And I've been, and I'm going back. Gladly.
My last rotation we dealt with this same "culture of caution", a command directive of casualty avoidance at all costs. It's a bogus mindset.
Fact: if your prime directive is minimizing casualties, you are NOT focused on doing what needs done. Which brings us to what does need done?
This conflict is a counter-insurgency. I would rather see a US soldier killed than an innocent Iraqi in his or her place as the result of aggressive casualty avoidance.
You CANNOT kill your way out of an insurgency - you MUST undercut popular support for the insurgents. The point being, for every innocent Iraqi killed 2, 4, 6, 8, and so on and so forth new insurgents are created. Please understand the difference between tactical and strategic differences.
Bad guys need killed, but with equal or greater vigor people that need helped need to be helped. At the risk of sounding trite it's about hearts and minds. Foreign Internal defense and civil affairs are traditional missions for SF, but this is lost in the ever on going rotations for the "war on terror".
SF does seven month rotations...how much of a relationship can one establish and develop over the course of seven months (not to include time needed for getting established and getting ready to leave)?
I meant no offense with my post, I suppose it prompted me to vent.
I love my country, and I'm proud to serve, but I think a lot of our priorities are misdirected.
I have heard SF field grade officers and Sargent Majors say ridiculous things like, "nothing in this country (Iraq) is worth dying for", and "I just want to get all my guys home alive".
If you are in a leadership position and you really feel this way then I think you out to hang up the uniform and find a new job.
Happy Fourth of July