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R&R flights resume

Jun-21-2004 » Filed Under: Iraq News

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By Sheila Flynn, Associated Press

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Once Spc. Rick Aul saw his daughter for the first time, he didn’t see much else.

After landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday following three months in Iraq, he plowed through a crowd welcoming the returning soldiers, kissed his wife, took 2-month-old Rowyn into his arms and quietly hugged her for several moments.

“All I had was pictures in Iraq,” said Aul, 20, who is stationed at Fort Hood. “It feels good.”

Aul was one of about 280 soldiers arriving for rest-and-recuperation leave from the Middle East. Theirs was the first of hundreds of daily charters to DFW as the Army’s R&R flights resumed for the first time in four months. The flights take hundreds of soldiers at a time from Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait for two-week breaks.

Thousands of soldiers will pass through DFW and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport through December. They were selected as the only two airports for the flights because of their size and central locations.


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