N.C. Guardsmen are glad to be back home
PARKTON - Pfc. Wayne Carter's mom, dad, fiancee and Dachshund waited in the chilly parking lot for the bus bringing him one step closer to home.
The 20-year-old soldier hugged dad first, quickly, then mom, before engulfing 19-year-old Amber Winfrey in a bear hug that lifted her off her feet. He kissed the dog, too.
Carter spent the past nine months in Iraq and the past 10 days at Fort Stewart, Ga., before climbing onto a charter bus with about three dozen other National Guardsmen in Company C, 1st Battalion, 120th Combine Arms Battalion.
"I was ready to get off that bus," he said, and ready to get back to life at home, 3 hours away in a small town called King, outside Winston-Salem.
He technically still has to propose to Winfrey, his high school sweetheart. And he still has to ask her father's permission, although it seems like a pretty safe bet that both will say yes.
The nearly 4,000 soldiers who deployed with the N.C. Army National Guard's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team are trickling into armories around the state by the busload.
The guardsmen spent nine months in Iraq training Iraqi police and army forces, helped improve infrastructure and worked side-by-side with the Iraqis to provide security.
Seven soldiers died and 29 were injured during the deployment.
Hundreds already have reunited with their families, and hundreds more will be welcomed home in the coming weeks.
Some, like Carter, are attached to units hours away from their hometowns, so the long bus ride from Georgia is followed by an equally long car ride home.
The two buses made the turn into the armory parking lot at 6:27 p.m. Tuesday as anxious family members filed from the building to greet their soldiers.
Four-year-old Jameson Locklear and 7-year-old Skylar Locklear had balloons and signs welcoming home their daddy, Sgt. 1st Class James T. Locklear. His wife, Kimberly, held their 4-month-old daughter Ava, too young to know why everyone was so happy.
"It was a great feeling," Sgt. 1st Class Locklear said. "I'm just glad to see my family again."
Staff writer John Ramsey can be reached at ramseyj@fayobserver.com or 486-3574.