National Guardsmen to return home today
Gretchen Hoffman
The arrival of one DC-10 this morning is sure going to make a lot
of people happy.
More than 125 National Guardsmen from the Glendale Armory have
been released from their duties in Tooele, Utah, and will be reunited
with their families today at a ceremony in Los Alamitos.
“These soldiers have been away for a year defending our rights,”
Sgt. Carvel Gay said. “They were given a job to do, and they’ve done
it quite well.”
The Glendale Guardsmen left behind their jobs and their families
to work 8- to 12-hour days to protect a munitions depot, chemical
weapons and a chemical and biological weapons testing and research
facility.
They left behind new babies, pregnant wives and worried parents,
and they’ve had little face-to-face contact with them over the past
year.
About 40 people traveled to Tooele over Memorial Day weekend, but
for many families, contact has been restricted to short leaves or
cell-phone conversations.
The mission isn’t over -- the depot still needs protection -- but
other soldiers have been called into duty to defend it.
About 400 family members of the Guardsmen are expected at the
ceremony, which will take place at 10 a.m. at the Joint Forces
Training Base in Los Alamitos and include local, state and federal
officials.