Troops get loud, warm welcome

While weaving his way through a throng of enthusiastic people — most carrying either balloons, posters, flags, yellow ribbons, cameras and/or ear-to-ear grins — a traveler at the Salt Lake City International Airport on Tuesday night turned to a companion and laughingly mentioned that "somebody must be coming home."

Bingo. But it wasn't just somebody. It was 21 very special somebodies — soldiers from the 141st Military Intelligence Battalion who also happen to be the husbands, dads, relatives, friends and, most of all, heroes of the large, exuberant homecoming crowd.

After serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom for the past year, the group is the first Utah Army National Guard unit to rotate home from the liberated country. And one by one, the soldiers from armories based in Salt Lake County, Orem, Logan and St. George were welcomed home in the terminal with cheers, claps and high-pitched "wooohs!"

"It's good to be home," said a beaming Sgt. Mike Litster of Roy. "Really good."

After giving his wife, Tara Litster, a big hug, Litster picked up his smiling 2-year-old daughter, Autumn, who had been toting a "We Love Our Daddy" sign. He then got to hold his 7-month-old daughter, Whitney, for the first time since he was last home on a two-week leave in June for her birth.

"She's grown a lot," he said, smiling.

"It's been a long time, but it's gone by very fast," Tara Litster said. "It's hard to believe this day has finally come."

The hardest part for her, she said, was trying to take care of two young girls by herself. The hardest part for her husband, he said, was being away from them.

Mike Litster joked that they were now "going to Disneyland." On a more serious note, he talked about how he was privileged "being able to free people" even if weapons of mass destruction are never found.

"I think it's important. I heard stories of tortures and I've seen scars," he said. "I think they're glad we helped get them out of oppression. There's a lot of grateful people out there (in Iraq) that we helped."

Like Litster, Staff Sgt. Norman Rentschler of Spanish Fork struggled being away from his wife, Amber, while she raised two young boys, 2-year-old Norman and 8-month-old Andrew. He missed Andrew's birth and didn't see him until his October leave.

"It's good to be home with family," he said. "Even in Colorado (at the airport), it seemed too good to be true. When you touch down here, it becomes real."