National Guard unit returns home

INDIANAPOLIS -- Months of worry ended in tears and hugs for dozens of families as about 250 Indiana National Guard troops returned home from the Middle East.\nThe civilian airliner carrying members of the Fort Wayne-based 293rd Infantry Battalion from Kuwait City arrived nearly two hours after its scheduled arrival time, keeping hundreds of well-wishers on edge as they waited at Indianapolis International Airport.\n"It's like someone's got you by the nape of the neck, and holding you over a cliff. It's like you can't breathe for nine months," said Joy Bland.\nHer son, Staff Sgt. Chad Broad, was injured when a Humvee overturned in February near Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. The accident injured three other soldiers and killed Spc. Brian Clemens, 19, of Kokomo.\nBroad was greeted by two aunts, an uncle, his son, his mother and his father, whom he hadn't seen in 25 years.\nDignitaries including Gov. Joe Kernan were on hand to welcome home the Guardsmen.\nKernan, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam, greeted the troops on the airport tarmac along with Maj. Gen. George A. Buskirk Jr., Indiana's adjutant general. Cheering and applause broke out as the troops left the plane.\nThe unit was deployed to the Middle East in January as part of the buildup for the war in Iraq. While in Iraq, many of the soldiers saw combat in their duties of force protection and convoy escorts.\nThey have been on active duty since being called up for training in November.\nThe battalion is comprised of soldiers based in Angola, Warsaw, Logansport, Huntington and Fort Wayne.\nMore members of the battalion are scheduled to return on a flight to Indianapolis on Wednesday.