The 4th Infantry currently based out of Fort Hood - Killeen Texas has been arriving home from a year long deployment in Iraq all week. Our son Sergeant Tarren Peterson's plane arrived yesterday. We went to Fort Hood for the Welcome Home Ceremony and to pick him up for 4 days of R & R. This is his second deployment but our first time to be able to attend a welcome home ceremony as his first deployment he was based in Germany.
We really did not know what to expect. We were told the approximate time of the day before the ceremony and they did a good job of keeping us updated as it got closer. The ceremony was held at Cameron Field which is the 4th ID's parade grounds. A large tent was set up with food, soft drinks and a video playing. The video was interrupted ever so often to let us know where the plane was. As the plane landed we were able to watch it on video. I think that was probably my most emotional point of the whole day. It was so INCREDIBLE to know that our son was on Texas soil again. The video is less than a minute but gives you an idea of the excitement.
It took quite some time for the plane to park and the soldiers to walk off. I have another short video of the soldiers walking off the plane. I wish I had panned the room more than I did but I'm just learning this flip video. This one is a little repetitive so you only need to watch for a short time.
At this point we went outside to wait for them. They came in on a 747 so we are talking about somewhere around 300 soldiers so it took quite some time for them to get over to Cameron field from the airfield. There were something like 7 or 8 buses. The soldiers unloaded behind the buses and then the buses pull away and there are the soldiers. It reminded me of those home shows where the bus hides the house. In this case it was the buses hiding the soldiers. People were yelling move that bus. It was so exciting when the bus moved to see all the soldiers standing there. The actual ceremony was only about 5 minutes and the soldiers and families were released to find their loved ones. I hope you enjoy the following real estate show of the ceremony.
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