National guard servicemen receive warm welcome

ELLETTSVILLE -- No one would know by looking at the faces of the soldiers waiting on the floor of the Edgewood High School gymnasium Saturday evening, but the throngs of people in the bleachers were cheering for them.\nThe members of the Bloomington-based 2nd Battalion, 150th Field Artillery of the Indiana National Guard, lined up one after another, marched sharply onto the hardwood and stood erect, their hands at their sides, in front of the folding chairs set up for them in the middle of the basketball court. \nEach man's face was stoic -- eyes forward, lips pursed in an expression that was just a muscle twinge away from a frown. \nBut Saturday night was for them. The family, friends and well-wishers were there to cheer the soldiers for everything they had given and sacrificed during their 15 months in Mosul, Iraq.\n"Taskforce Raider," as the unit was nicknamed, returned home Christmas Eve. The community organized the event, best described as a "pep rally," to help the nearly 150 soldiers of the unit find some closure and show them their efforts are appreciated, said state Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington. \nA group of local politicians gathered to thank the soldiers for their services. Welch, Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, state Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, and Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th, all took the podium. \nMiss Indiana and IU graduate student Betsy Uschkrat sang the national anthem. \nIU men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson served as an honorary co-chair of the event. But NCAA sanctions that prevent him from having any contact with high-school students forced Sampson to address the troops in a different gymnasium before the rally.\nEach politician spoke of the sacrifice the soldiers gave. Each expressed an inability to understand what the men had gone through, having not been to Iraq themselves. And each expressed happiness that the soldiers returned.\n"I am fortunate, on behalf of the city of Bloomington, to say to you the prettiest words in the English language: Welcome home," Kruzan told the crowd.\nDespite the joyous atmosphere of the evening, the ceremony turned somber when Maj. Kirk White, the company's executive officer, paid tribute to the one solider lost during the unit's 15-month tour of duty, calling him one of the unit's "up-and-coming young leaders." Staff Sgt. Paul Pabla of Huntington, Ind., was killed by a sniper in July.\nAt every instance that required the audience to be silent -- each speaker, the national anthem, the pledge of allegiance, the benediction -- crying babies and restless children paid a noisy testament to the families that these men left behind in Indiana.\nMarlyce Webster, a Danville, Ind., resident, came to Ellettsville to support her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Malcolm Webster, with her two daughters. She was not surprised that the community and friends came together to organize the rally.\n"It's like a big family," she said.\nThe soldiers themselves expressed their happiness to be home as they mingled with loved ones after the event. Their priorities for their first months back in civilian life varied -- some wanted to rest and relax, others desired vacations.\nBut Staff Sgt. Shawn Settles, a Wilkinson, Ind., resident whose daughter was born while he was in Iraq, knew exactly what he wanted.\n"I need to get to know my kids," he said.