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Stryker soldiers home

Nov-26-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

By Beth Bragg, Anchorage Daily News

Ten-year-old William Crowley and his 6-year-old brother, Xavier, thought they had come to Buckner Physical Fitness Center on Saturday morning to hang decorations.

Each carried a poster bearing colorful welcome-home messages for their dad. They knew he was coming home from the war. They just didn't know he was coming home Saturday.

Their mom knew. But Kerrie Crowley hadn't told the boys because she wanted to protect their little hearts, broken this summer when their dad's yearlong tour in Iraq was extended by four months just as homecoming plans were being made.

She couldn't put them through that again.

It wasn't until the boys were inside the gymnasium Saturday, surrounded by scores of other poster-bearing, flag-waving children, that they learned they'd be seeing their dad before the day was done. The first wave of returning soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade was coming home, and Bill Crowley was part of it.

"He's right there! Right there!" Kerrie Crowley said, pointing, as 215 soldiers finally filed into the building. William quietly stood at attention, just like the soldiers before him, searching for a glimpse of his dad. A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Come on!" his mom said as Maj. Gen. Charles Jacoby, the senior Army commander in Alaska, delivered a swift welcome-home speech. "Dismiss them!"

And just like that, the troops' formation fell apart and discipline turned to chaos. Men who had formed five neat rows to listen to the general's remarks sprinted toward the bleachers, their arms opened wide to catch wives, children, girlfriends and parents in long-awaited hugs.[...]


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