Community Corner

A Homecoming In Windsor Locks for National Guard Soldiers

The Connecticut Army National Guard's 247th Engineer Unit is welcomed home from Afghanistan

As Specialist Roberto Falcon stepped from the confines of a bus and into the arms of family and friends Tuesday afternoon, he was at a loss for words.

“Glad is not enough,” Falcon, a 23-year old Norwich resident, said while on the tarmac of the Army Aviation Support Facility in Windsor Locks. 

“It’s kind of hard to believe, because you’ve been out there for so long, then you come here and all of a sudden everything is here after you were without it for a whole year. It’s hard to swallow at first, but when it kicks in it feels really, really good,” the soldier said.

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Falcon was one of 11 members of the Connecticut Army National Guard’s Corps of Engineers Unit 247, all Connecticut natives, who returned home Tuesday after about a 10-month deployment in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The first thing Falcon did when he got off that bus Tuesday was kiss his wife and daughter. He said he didn’t have any immediate plans, other than to reconnect with his family and enjoy a little well deserved rest and relaxation.

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It was the 247th Engineer Unit’s second deployment to Southwest Asia, after a one-year stint in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 2003 to April 2004. The unit has also participated in humanitarian missions in Central and South America.

Col. John Whitford, a spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard, said the unit is one of only four in the country that can do the sort of fieldwork that was required of it in Afghanistan.

Whitford said the unit spent the majority of its deployment drilling wells in eastern Afghanistan near Kabul, supporting field operations and working to establish a private well-drilling rig. He said the unit had satisfied its federal service requirements and could only be called up again to active duty by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to assist with state emergencies, such as a flood or a hurricane.

“I feel good, real good,” Staff Sgt. Ernesto Rios Soto, a Willimantic native, said. “It was a lot of not enough sleep, a lot of hurry up and wait, but we made it through and that’s what really counts.”

Rios Soto said he was looking forward to “taking care of my family again.” His mother, Nilsa Rios Soto, said she was “very emotional” about her son's return home. 

“I’m happy for them and thankful to God for bringing them home,” she said. “You always miss family.”

Dozens and dozens of family members and friends, ranking members of Connecticut’s Army National Guard command, as well as Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, turned out to welcome the soldiers home Tuesday.

Shaking each serviceman’s hand as they stepped from the bus, Wyman gave each a smile and the reassuring thought that “your friends and family are waiting for you” inside the hangar.

“Welcoming them home is probably the best thing I can ever do,” Wyman said. “They’re making the world a better place to live. These are really our heroes. The pride that we see for these heroes, the families’ faces as they’re welcoming them home, we can’t ask for anything better. It is so good to have them back home.” 

Rebecca Smith, the sister of Sgt. Ronald Smith, said she was just looking forward to getting the opportunity to spend some time with her brother again.

“It gets harder every time he goes,” she said.

His wife Jane and four young children also greeted Ronald Smith, a Danielson resident, on his return home Tuesday. As he hugged and kissed each one, and cradled his youngest daughter Katie in his arms, Ronald Smith said he was very happy to be home. 

"I'm at a loss for words," he said.


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