Families of 737th ready for a homecoming
By ADRIANA JANOVICH
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
or the families and friends of the citizen soldiers of the Army Reserve 737th Transportation Company, this week ? the last before their loved ones come home ? just can't pass quickly enough.
They've been waiting more than a year, through birthdays and anniversaries, holidays and other milestones. The birth of a grandchild. The stumbling first steps of a firstborn son.
But these last few days seem to be dragging out; time appears to be barely creeping along.
"The clock isn't even moving at this point," says Kimberly Schoolcraft of Yakima, leader of the 737th Family Readiness Group, or FRG.
And there are still more hours to endure before the men and women of the 737th reunite with their wives and husbands, children, parents, grandparents, siblings and fellow soldiers who've already returned because of injury or medical reasons.
The Yakima-based unit is expected to arrive at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, sometime late Saturday.
"I can't wait," says 40-something Irene Pearcey, whose husband, Gene, is a staff sergeant with the 737th. "I'm very excited to have him home. It's been a long, long year."
The 14-month deployment took the soldiers of the 737th to Kuwait and Iraq, where the bulk of their mission was hauling fuel.
Now, their loved ones are packing for a weekend on the west side, making "Welcome Home" posters, purchasing balloons, planning how to spend a free day together Sunday.
"We probably won't be watching the Super Bowl," Pearcey says. "I would imagine that we'll be sleeping in, and hopefully having a relaxed late breakfast somewhere, just being comfortable and being with each other again."
After 14 months apart, Schoolcraft says she expects spouses to feel anxious, "like you're going on your first date. It doesn't matter whether you've been married a year or 17 or 25."
Jessica Stout, 25, was married just three months before her husband, 23-year-old Spec. Josephe Stout, was activated with the 737th.
"I'm a little nervous," she says about seeing her husband again. "But I'm ready for this week to fly by. I miss having someone to come home and talk to."
Saturday night, the FRG will arm family and friends with American flags. And hopefully, Schoolcraft says, they'll also come with posters and balloons.
"It'll just be one huge celebration," she says.
But she doesn't expect it to last very long.
"There's not a lot of standing around," says Schoolcraft, who's been through a few homecomings during her husband's 20-year military career. "They dissipate quickly. It's just a matter of walking out the door and finally being reunited."
Staff Sgt. Richard "Rick" Peters, 36, and his wife, Angie, are planning to take a lot of pictures Saturday. Rick Peters of Yakima is still recovering from wounds he sustained June 30 in Iraq when the convoy he was traveling with hit a chain of explosives. The squad leader is looking forward to seeing his soldiers again.
So is Angie, 29, who says "I feel like I know so many of them that I'm probably going to go up and hug any of them."
But the 737th won't roll into Yakima until about a week after their arrival at Fort Lewis. When they get here, members of the old unit who served in Vietnam 35 years ago will be ready for them; they've been planning a return rally since the current soldiers deployed, meeting once a week at the American Legion headquarters in Yakima.
Earlier this week, in the back room of the hall, 61-year-old Clare Brower, a former squad leader with the 737th, laid out his hopes for the celebration.
"We want as many people there as possible," he says, remembering the welcome his men received in 1969. "We had a large crowd out in front of the YMCA on Naches Avenue when we came home."
Members of the old 737th are still working out plans for the rally, which they hope to hold in downtown Yakima, complete with high school marching bands, speeches and the presentation of commemorative coins they've had made for the occasion.
They're encouraging people to stay tuned for more information about the exact date and time. And they're also asking local businesses to put up banners and messages of support on reader boards.
Says Brower, "We hope they know they are welcomed and thanked for their service."
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