It's always special anytime those who serve return home, and on Wednesday 13 airmen and women were reunited with their families and friends after a six-month deployment in Kuwait.OKLAHOMA CITY -
More than a dozen
Oklahoma families welcomed home loved ones serving overseas, Wednesday.
It's always
special anytime those who serve return home, and on Wednesday 13 airmen and women were reunited
with their families and friends after a six-month deployment in Kuwait.
Applause broke out
at Will Rogers International Airport Wednesday afternoon as 13 airmen and women
with the 72nd Security Forces Squadron landed on Sooner soil. Staff Sgt. Nicole
Longoria had to miss her daughter, Taliana's 4th birthday in September.
"The longest I've
been gone without her was about two weeks, so this is the longest we've been
separated, so it's hard on her a lot," Staff Sgt. Longoria says,"I'm just happy
to be back."
This group of
Oklahoma's finest has been stationed in southwest Asia in support of ongoing
operations in Afghanistan, where one of Oklahoma's own, Pvt. 1st Class Jon Townsend
of Claremore was killed three weeks ago during an ambush by some of the Afghan
police officers he was helping to train.
Funeral services
for Townsend were held Friday, where hundreds gathered to remember him for his
faith and patriotism.
Townsend's death
is a sobering reminder of the sacrifice Oklahomans continue to make fighting
overseas, making every homecoming like this one as special as the last.
"I'm happy
more than anything really, just to be back with her," Longoria
said.
The remaining
airmen with the 72nd Security Forces Squadron are due to return to Oklahoma
within the next two months.
