‘It’s just good to be back’

They left last year in the early morning darkness of Veterans Day, leaving behind teary family and friends, the same throng who cheered their homecoming Thursday under the powder blue sky over the Henderson armory.

Ninety-nine Nevada National Guard soldiers from the 72nd Military Police Company returned safely from Iraq after the unit's second tour since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. It was the company's third major deployment since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"You all are great Americans that have written a proud and distinguished chapter in your legacy in life," Brig. Gen. Frank Gonzales, Nevada's Army Guard commander, told the citizen-soldiers at their homecoming ceremony.

"What you have accomplished, no one can take away," he said.

Before the ceremony, the general said that the 72nd MPs should not be mistaken for Maryland's 372nd Military Police Company. The Nevada National Guard unit in 2003 turned over the Abu Ghraib prison to the Maryland reserve unit, which is blamed for the infamous prisoner abuse scandal.

"They were the first ones at Abu Ghraib," he said of Nevada's 72nd Military Police Company. "They didn't check their integrity at the door."

In all, more than 120 Nevada Guard soldiers from the company spent most of this year on an around-the-clock prisoner detention assignment out of Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. Some returned early for medical reasons and others were still demobilizing at Fort Dix, N.J., said 1st Sgt. Jacob Gonzales.

Gonzales made both Iraq tours and the company's first deployment to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., for Operation Noble Eagle in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2005, he also served during the company's short law-and-order stint in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"Compared to the first tour in Iraq, it was a heck of a lot better," Gonzales said of his most recent tour. "The country seemed much more stable this time around than the first time."

Still, roadside bombs and militant snipers along the same routes used by the 72nd MPs to transport more than 20,000 detainees by bus and aircraft were always a danger.

"We dealt mostly with indirect fire when we were out moving detainees around near Basra," Gonzales said.

Like the rest of the soldiers, he was glad to be home.

"I tell you, it hasn't sunk in yet. It's kind of surreal," he said.

Ditto that for Spc. Corey Shafer. For the first time, he saw in person the cherub face of his 21/2-month-old daughter, Yaretzi, who was pushed in a stroller by her mother, Sandra Sandoval.

"She's just so pretty," Shafer said. "There's no real words to say. It's just good to be back."

The company's overseas commander, Capt. David R. Evans, thanked his troops for their service and gave special mention to 1st Sgt. Gonzales.

"We did it," Evans said. "We got everybody home."

Gov. Jim Gibbons praised the soldiers in a brief speech at the ceremony.

"You have served your country well. You have served your state well. And you have served your citizens well," Gibbons said. "I was here when you left and met you in Camp Bucca and now you are home," he said.

Afterward, Gibbons noted that the 72nd MPs have served the United States during a pivotal time in history.

"People in the nation, from ocean to ocean, owe this group a great debt of thanks."