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Thousands greet returning Iraq War vets

Viet Nam war veteran Olsen Nez salutes the flag as it is carried down Aztec Ave. Saturday morning during a parade honoring the New Mexico National Guard's 1116th Transportation Company's return from Iraq. (Photo by John A. Bowesmith/Independent)

Independent staff

After welcoming his comrades home Sgt. Darrell House leaps off the 915 linehaul truck that members of the New Mexico National Guard's 1116th Transportaion Company rode on in a parade honoring their return from Iraq. House is in the 1116th and returned home before the rest of the division. (Photo by John A. Bowesmith/Independent)

GALLUP — Thousands turned out Saturday to welcome home 34 members of the New Mexico Army National Guard's 1116th Transportation Company who returned to the United States from Iraq.

"The turnout was great," said Mayor Bob Rosebrough, one of several dignitaries who took part in the parade.

He estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 city residents came out to watch the parade in the company's honor.

The city also presented the members with commemorative T-shirts.

"We welcome you home, we welcome you back to Gallup and we welcome you back to the area you love and to the area where you have grown up," Rosebrough said during the ceremonies. "We thank you for your service to your country and may God bless you and your country that you have honored with your service."

Members of the 1116th include troops from the Gallup area, Acoma, Laguna and Zuni pueblos, as well as the Hopi and Navajo nations.

Tribal leaders from the Acoma and Zuni pueblos as well as the Navajo Nation attended the event.Navajo Nation Council speaker Lawrence Morgan told the soldiers that the council "supports you for a job well done."

Rosebrough said he was surprised at how many entries there were for the parade. A number of the local veteran groups marched in the parade as did bands from sveral of the area schools.The parade was organized by Dolly Pine, the mother of three veterans, including one son who served in Desert Storm. Pine said she began thinking about the parade in November. With the help of folks with the Gallup National Guard Armory and Family Support Services, and money raised through poker rides, the parade was a huge success.

While in Iraq, the Gallup-based 1116th became part of the Guard's Taos-based 1115th Transportation Company. The commander of that unit said the 1115th deployment would not have been successful without the 1116th.

The 1115th returned from Iraq in late March, landing at Fort Bliss, Texas, with the Las Cruces-based 642nd Maintenance Company to process out.

The Gallup-based trucking troops and those from Taos logged 1.3 million combat miles in Iraq. Over a year and one month, they completed 839 trucking missions. They also helped protect their assigned base north of Baghdad, Camp Taji, and distributed tons of supplies around the region.

Many of the 40 members returning to Gallup are among the older members of the guard.

Danny Atcitty, the 44-year-old father of five, joined the national guard several years ago to stay busy. He was shocked to get deployment orders around Christmas 2003, just after the birth of his youngest child.

"We planned that I would be here to help raise our youngest child, so that was unexpected," he said.

Atcitty said he won't be reenlisting.

"I feel we had a job to do. It had to be done," he said.

Atcitty works in records management for the Navajo Nation at its offices in Window Rock, Ariz.

Spc. Joliviette Sloan, 26, of Twin Lakes, missed more than a year of classes at Crownpoint Institute of Technology during her deployment.

Sloan, who hopes to work in environmental technology, said she joined the guard for its education benefits.

"It's not too big a deal to take time off and do my other thing," she said of her guard duty.

"It was definitely a change of pace from what I normally do," Sloan said.

Leaders from the Gallup and Taos units have the weekend to enjoy the patriotic return. They will spend the next couple of months preparing the next batch of soldiers from the two units for deployment to the Middle East.

Rosebrough said he feels the city and the community as a whole did a good job in this welcoming ceremony.

"In my lifetime - I go back to a childhood during the Korean Conflict - we haven't done a very good job welcoming back soldiers from a war. But I think we're doing a better job of that now," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.