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Stryker GIs greeted with hug-fest

Oct-30-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

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More from Fort Lewis brigade return after nearly a year in Iraq

By M.L. LYKE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

FORT LEWIS -- Even in the sea of beige camo uniforms, red, white and blue balloons, hyper toddlers, and teary spouses, it was hard to miss Mindi Pearson at yesterday's welcome home for members of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

The 26-year-old artist was standing on a metal chair in strappy, spiked size 4 heels, her petite body wrapped in a Versace knockoff she and a friend had created with five layers of fire-engine red sheer fabric and ribboned corset.

"My goal was to be the prettiest woman here," said Pearson, as she waited inside the base's Sheridan Gym for ceremonies to end and her sweetheart, Army Spc. Theodore Nordsieck, to come running.[...]

Nordsieck was one of 1,135 soldiers in the Stryker Brigade to return to Fort Lewis from duty in Iraq yesterday, bringing the total number home to about 3,000, or three-quarters of the brigade's soldiers.

Soldiers were welcomed back in four separate ceremonies, with rousing marching music, prayers for brigade members lost in Iraq, and words of appreciation for sacrifices in the line of duty.

"Their lives and the lives of their families have been changed forever," said Stryker chaplain Maj. Wayne Garcia

Lt. Gen. Ed Soriano, commander of Fort Lewis, told troops it has been "a tough, tough year, and you stood up to the task."

The Stryker Brigade left last November, spent a few weeks training in Kuwait, moved to camps near Samarra and Balad, then moved on to Mosul, where they were headquartered for the rest of their deployment.[...]


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