'Awesome' homecoming for soldier
Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 29 2009 05:06 AM
By Matt Goodman
Killeen Daily HeraldFORT HOOD – Most families congregated in front of the bleachers that faced the street Saturday at Cameron Field, waiting for their soldier to appear.
But Heather Floyd and her two children, Jimmy, 2, and Chloie, 3, were off to the side, huddled behind a homemade "Welcome Home" poster they had jammed into the ground.
"My husband and I coordinated exactly where I'd be standing," Floyd said. "And that was as far to the right – well, his right – that I could."
Her husband, Spc. James Floyd III, was returning from his second deployment. Jimmy and Chloie bounced off each other and jostled to hold one of their homemade signs.
Heather mentions and refutes studies that have shown children younger than 4 haven't had enough time to register longing when their fathers are deployed.
But when James and the mass of soldiers walked onto the field in unison, her daughter's extended cries of "daddy" defended her sentiments.
"You miss him, and you get sad a lot, but with children you don't have time to be sad," she said. "You've got to put on that straight face."
The 4:15 p.m. homecoming brought 348 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division back to Fort Hood.
It was the largest homecoming this year, officials said, and the soldiers who filed out of the seven buses took up much of Cameron Field.
They marched to the middle, paused and saluted. The audience roared and then quickly grew silent for the invocation. Heather paced with her eyes, scanning the rows of camouflaged uniforms hoping for a signal that would tip off her husband's spot.
There was a flash of movement at the end of the second-to-last row. James had broken his stoic stare for a split second to turn to the right. A smile and a subdued hand wave was all it took.
"There's your daddy," Heather yelled to her children.
A moment later, the traditional order to "charge your soldiers" came from the podium and the field was filled with families and friends who were seeing their loved ones for the first time in more than a year.
It didn't take long until Chloie was hoisted on her father's shoulders and Jimmy was anchored to his leg. They'd be going out for his favorite dinner – sushi – and today are having Thanksgiving a few days late.
"We're having turkey, all the dressings and all the sides," Heather said. "My husband lost a lot of weight; I've got to put it back on."
And while Heather said there "were no words" to the feeling of reuniting with her husband, James found one.
"Awesome," he said.
Contact Matt Goodman at
mgoodman@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7550.