Iraq returnees get warm welcome at Hill

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — In the cold, wind and rain Friday, Air Force Tech Sgt. Velisa Harris was the smiling face that her best friend, Master Sgt. Edica Rogers, needed to see after four months in Iraq.

"I am doing absolutely, positively great," Rogers said after stepping into a hangar at Hill that normally houses F-16s.

Hundreds of friends, family members and fellow airmen greeted about 200 returning maintenance workers with the 421st Fighter Squadron, part of Hill's 388th Fighter Wing. The returning airmen — along with at least 10 F-16 pilots and their jets headed into Hill today — have been at Balad Air Base in Iraq since last May in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Like Harris and Rogers, many at Hill on Friday weren't allowed to talk much about the group's mission in Iraq, for security reasons.

One not-so-secret commonality, however, was that many of the airmen getting out of the World Airways jet were returning to what is only their temporary home at Hill. So in some cases, they were greeted only by others in uniform.

"I'm the only family she's got," said Harris, a Floridian, who greeted her friend Rogers with a bouquet of flowers and a Mylar balloon.

Rogers, a 20-year Air Force veteran, has family spread across three states, including the place she calls home, New York.

Lisa Hammond had to think a minute about where she and her husband, Senior Master Sgt. Marty Hammond, call home. They have moved five times since the birth of their oldest son, Jay, who is 15.

"I guess when you live everywhere, you don't really know where home is," she said, standing next to her four sons inside the hangar.

The Hammonds moved from Alabama to Utah recently and purchased a house in Roy. Lisa learned how to install drywall and insulation and lay tile while her husband was gone. Her goal was to finish the garage in time for her "honey" to enjoy it upon his return.

"Look at my hands," she said, staring down at sores from all the hard work.

Randy and Helen Johnson made the trip from Sacramento, Calif., to welcome their son, Wesley Johnson, 23, back to Hill. The Johnsons consider themselves a patriotic family and said they're proud of their son's second tour in Iraq.

"If the recruiting office was open on Sept. 12 (2001), he would have joined," Randy Johnson said, referring to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.