Families and friends welcome home deployed soldiers

Photo By Sgt. Tracy R. Myers | Sgt. Hector Jaime Sanchez, D Battery, 4th Battalion, 5th Air Missile Defense Battalion, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade communications non-commissioned officer in charge, embraces his 7-year-old son, Isaiah, while kissing his wife, Isabel, after returning to Fort Hood, Texas, from a year-long deployment to Kuwait. (US Army photo by Sgt. Tracy R. Myers, 14th PAD)  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

11.03.2012

Story by Sgt. Tracy R. Myers 

14th Public Affairs Detachment

FORT HOOD, Texas - Hundreds of friends and Family members came together the night of Nov. 3, to welcome home their soldiers of 4th Battalion, 5th Air Missile Defense Battalion, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, after a year-long deployment to Kuwait.

Surrounded by eager loved ones, Lt. Col William Dowling, 4-5 AMD, 69th ADA commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Phifer uncased their battalion colors, symbolizing the completion of their mission.

Among the tear-filled eyes of the crowd was the family of Sgt. Hector Jaime Sanchez, a communications non-commissioned officer in charge in Battery D, 4-5 AMD and a native of Red Oak, Texas.

Sanchez’s mother, Blanca Sanders, one of the nine family members there to welcome him home, was especially excited to be present.

She has endured 10 different deployments between the three of her children enlisted in the armed forces, and her husband who is retired Army, Sanders said. This is the first welcome home ceremony she has ever been able to attend.

“I am so happy to finally be here to welcome home our troops,” Sanders said. “I am proud of all these soldiers, and it’s a great feeling to be here.”

Sanchez’s wife, Isabel, and 7-year-old son, Isaiah, were feeling some of the same emotions.

“This was our first deployment as a married couple, and it was really rough,” Isabel said. “I think I cried every day for the first month.”

Separations can be trying on an Army family, Isabel said, calling the successful completion of a deployment a testament of character.

“It’s a huge trial for a marriage,” she said. “If you can stay devoted and faithful to each other while being apart for 12 months, then there is nothing that you can’t handle.”

Isabel took on the role of mother and father while her husband was away.

“It was a big challenge for me and my son,” she said. “There were things he wanted to do with his dad I just couldn’t do.”

While the deployment was difficult for both Sanchez’s wife and son to bear, Isabel had to stay strong for her husband and Isaiah, she said.

Isaiah loves his father so much, Sanchez’s brother, Keith Sanders, said, noting that the 7-year-old carried around the Army doll with his dad’s picture in it for several months after he left.

The whole Family was glad to have their soldier return home.

“Finally, they get to reunite as a Family,” Isabel’s sister, Christina Woodard, said. “This is a huge relief to be welcoming her husband home.”

• Date Taken: 11.03.2012
• Date Posted: 11.13.2012 12:35
• Story ID: 97696
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US
• Hometown: KILLEEN, TX, US
• Hometown: RED OAK, TX, US