Today the Twin Cities of Bloomington-Normal had a "Welcome Home" parade for the 33rd Military Police Battalion from the Bloomington National Guard. The parade was led by several police cars from various local and other police departments and included many supporters on motorcycles who have formed into a support the troops organization. Of course, the seventy men and women that served more than a year in Iraq were paraded in convertibles donated for this event. Starting at Illinois State University and proceeding down Center street to the Armory in Bloomington the parade appeared to be about a mile long.
I woke up this morning and heard on the local radio that this welcome home parade was to start about noon and mentally said "It would be nice to go over to Center Street and welcome the troops home". By 9:00A.M. I had almost forgotten that the event would happen, but then my middle son who served several terms in Iraq as a private contractor employed to train and handle explosive detection dogs phoned my wife. His first call was to tell us that he was heading to an Olympics for police dogs in Indiana, then a few minutes later he called back to ask if we could attend the parade and welcome home the troops for him. Needless to say a priority had been established.
Not thinking that there would be a hugh crowd we headed over to Center Street about noon and was I surprised! The street were lined with people where we had intended to park and watch. We turned South on the parade route thinking that we would find a less populated place we drove almost a mile south until we found a place to park, and we did kind of park illegally as the sign said no parking this block. Standing on the corner were a couple of veterans from prior wars waiting to welcome home the returning kids.
It was neat to see the returning young men and women as they rode on the back seats of the convertibles. This old guy had goose bumps and tears as he waived at the brave young men and women as they rode by. It was neat how they smiled and waived back, but more than that were the two young men that did more than smile and waive they yelled out to us "Thank You". I was struck with the thought how often I fail to say thank you and yet two young men returning from war had said thank you and in fact they deserved to be thanked.
I am reminded of the many incidents that my son experienced while in Iraq and the close calls he had with not returning. There was the time he and his dog were searching an incoming vehicle and the dog hit on a scent which means it is time to call the explosive detonations unit but the detonator exploded immediately, but the bomb failed. There was also the night that as the alert sounded he headed out for shelter and a incoming RPG hit about 100 yards away and he felt a twinge on his leg to only find out that a piece of shrapnel had hit his leg but only causing minor damage.
Some of the events he witnessed included the two Iraqi women that worked at the Embassy and went home one night an then were shot for not cooperating with the insurgents. The other was a lazy computer specialist that decided to go back to his "hootch", sleeping quarters, for a noon nap. For several weeks the hootches had been declare unsafe at night and this guy had been one of the first to seek the permanent shelter safety to sleep at night. This particular day he received a call from the Embassy that they had a computer problem, his last response was that he would be there in an hour. This time the enemy did not wait until night time to fire an RPG, he died in his sleep.
On the Friday before my son came home he watched an incoming RPG head toward him, not knowing where it would land. It fell short and three British soldiers lives were snuffed out. The following Sunday morning my son exited Iraq.
Some how getting out of Iraq doesn't take the experiences of war out of the minds of the brave young men and women. They can still hear the sirens, the whistles of the incoming and the explosions and gunfire, and then the memories of friends and comrades who have been wounded or came home in body bags.
No young men and women of the 33rd Military Police you do not need to thank me for coming to welcome you home, I am only doing what I should to thank you and then I should be saying how can I help you now that you are home safely?
