Utah's 1457th coming home

Telephone calls giving the welcome news began arriving from the Middle East shortly after midnight early Wednesday: The Utah National Guard's 1457th Engineer Battalion is returning home from Iraq after all.

The news — coming as it does after a long series of ups and downs over the unit's status — has been long awaited by family members and was confirmed Wednesday evening by military officials. "The pending redeployment of the soldiers of the 1457th is good news, and we look forward to them returning home," said Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, adjutant general for Utah.

Continued deployment of the Guard unit and of the Army Reserve's 419th Transportation Company had generated controversy. The units were activated in February 2003, going to Fort Lewis, Wash., for training, and in April that year they were sent to the Middle East.

Some family members were dismayed when they heard the soldiers would not be coming home until they had spent a year in the war theater. Then, near the end of that year, the soldiers went to Kuwait, packed their gear and were preparing to come home to excited family members.

Then, last week the 1457th and the 419th Transportation Company were told their stays had been extended.

Once the extensions became public, some family members of the Guard unit organized a group called Rights for American Citizen Soldiers aimed at finding answers about the deployment extension.

"I'm thrilled," said Alyssa Wright, whose husband, 1457th's Spec. Jared Wright, called home about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. "I don't know if us getting the word out did anything, but it couldn't have hurt. I'm just relieved."

By getting the word out, Wright apparently meant family members' interviews and organizing efforts on behalf of the soldiers.

"He just said that they just got out of a meeting, and it looked like they would be coming home within the next few weeks," she said. "He didn't know why the decision came or how it came about. But it sounded like the powers that be, somewhere, said they weren't going to be needed after all."

Linda Dexter, of Saratoga Springs, said her husband telephoned Wednesday morning. Staff Sgt. Kevin Dexter of the 1457th told her prospects are great for the group to return home.

Both the 1457th and the 419th Transportation Company had been on the verge of flying home when word came of the extensions. Soldiers of the 1457th had turned in gear, packed their belongings and prepared their vehicles to go back to Utah.

It wouldn't have made sense for the 1457th to remain in the Middle East without proper equipment, said Alyssa Wright.

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