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Tuesday, May 13, 2003
National Guard unit returns from duty
By AUDREY PARENTE | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — National Guardsman Sgt. Bernardo Alicea came home from the war Monday without ever having left the country, and his wife Maria was happy to have him back.
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"I wish I had the opportunity to be overseas and serve my country the way fellow soldiers did, but maybe next time," said Alicea of Orlando, who left at the rank of specialist and came home promoted to sergeant.
His wife waited hours with hundreds of others in a steaming hangar at Jet Center Daytona Beach for the arrival of three planes carrying 366 members of the Florida Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 265th Air Defense Artillery after a nearly two-month deployment to Fort Bliss, Texas.
Brig. Gen. Steve Villacorta, commander of Detachment 1 of the 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command, welcomed the soldiers home, saying they "did the state of Florida and the Florida National Guard proud."
Villacorta said the unit was mobilized because the special skills of its members were needed, but now, because the "situation changed over there (in Iraq), there is need for different types of units."
The first two planes were greeted by about 200 flag-waving and cheering loved ones, and the third plane arrived an hour later to a smaller, but just as enthusiastic crowd of about 40 adults and children.
"They have accomplished quite a lot," said Hannele Jarsagarary of Palm Coast, who waited for her brother, R.J. Jarsagarary, and her boyfriend, Josh Hall, both serving in the unit.
"My brother had liked to make jokes and was constantly playing, but all of a sudden, he took on a lot of responsibility and was more of a man. He became somebody I had never seen, and I am very impressed with him," she said.
A DeBary mother, Lydia Henning, also was proud of her returning son, Spc. Josh Creech of DeLand.
"I am ecstatic he didn't have to go into harm's way. I am proud he was willing to go, but I am glad he didn't have to," Henning said.
Creech's pregnant wife, Kim, said she was just anxious to get back to "normal life, like having dinner together."
Andrea and James Travell said they were anxious for their son, T.J. Pullin, who also was promoted from specialist to sergeant, to return to civilian life and classes at Daytona Beach Community College.
"He was one credit short of his criminology degree at DBCC when he was called up," Andrea Travell said. "The Army is paying for school, but he'll have to repeat the class. The professors have been really great."
The National Guard unit normally answers to call-ups by Florida's governor but were mobilized this time by President Bush for a wartime mission to defend against hostile aircraft and enemy missile attacks. Headquartered on Beach Street, the unit, which includes batteries from Palatka and DeLand, left Florida March 18 for the Texas Army base in support of the war.
While most of the returning soldiers were thrilled to be home, Sgt. Alicea remembered that one member of the unit assigned to Battery A, based in Palatka, didn't make it back.
Sgt. 1st Class Lloyd Clements Jr., 56, of DeLand, was one of at least three people who died of heart attacks after receiving a smallpox vaccine. Clements was on duty unloading crates at a firing range at Fort Bliss when he died March 26.
"He was a great sergeant, and I heard good things about him," Alicea said. "His loss was felt all across the battalion."