It\u2019s good to be home,\u201d 21-year-old U.S. Army SPC Rita Taitano said, still trying to catch her breath amid an outpouring of welcome hugs, kisses, handshakes, cheers, and tears of joy at yesterday morning\u2019s welcoming at the Saipan International Airport for 15 of 16 CNMI soldiers who had just returned from their Afghanistan deployment.<\/p>\n
Like the 14 others who arrived yesterday, Taitano was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who welcomed them inside and outside the airport, as well as along the road to and from the airport.<\/p>\n
It was especially heartwarming for SPC Christopher Del Rosario, seeing for the first time his 3-month-old daughter. His wife was pregnant with their second child when he was deployed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of warming and trying to keep it together,\u201d he said, holding his 2-yeard-old son at the airport.<\/p>\n
Del Rosario also didn\u2019t expect the welcoming \u201cto be this big.\u201d On hand were his parents Henry and Velma, along with his wife and other relatives and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour soldiers are back home. Thank you for everything that you\u2019ve done. Thank you soldiers for your service,\u201d U.S. Army Maj. Joseph Cruz, executive officer of 1-294th Infantry Regiment, told an equally grateful crowd at the airport.<\/p>\n
One of the 16 soldiers from the CNMI, U.S. Army 1LT Joey Togawa, an executive officer for C Company, remains at Camp Shelby in Mississippi for debriefing, his wife Colleen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I am here to show my support to the soldiers and their families. I am as excited. Just seeing the look on family members\u2019 faces is priceless,\u201d Colleen Togawa told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
The 16 soldiers from the CNMI were among the 600 members of the Guam National Guard\u2019s 1-294th Infantry Regiment that were deployed to different parts of Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. It was the largest group of reserve component groups to be mobilized and deployed from the Marianas.<\/p>\n
SPC Elbert Espayos, 21, said he was surprised by the big welcoming ceremony and thankful at seeing how the community supports its soldiers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a lot together. We accomplished a lot of missions and goals,\u201d he said of his deployment to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Espayos and his girlfriend, Midori Adelbai, are planning to go on vacation, which could be in Palau, and get married. <\/p>\n
Gov. Eloy S. Inos, who led the welcoming at the airport, personally thanked the soldiers for their service to the country and to the families for their support. He said it was a \u201ctouching\u201d moment to see families reunited.<\/p>\n
The governor said he was relieved that the soldiers came home safe and sound after putting themselves in harm\u2019s way in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very happy. I\u2019m sure the entire CNMI is happy for their coming home, that we as a community can do our part in defense of our country and the soldiers have been able to do something in defense of our country. We\u2019re grateful for all of that,\u201d the governor added. <\/p>\n
Joining the governor at the welcoming rites were Cabinet members, lawmakers, other government officials, families, and relatives of the soldiers, the Manta Ray Band, and other private sector partners.<\/p>\n
SPC Josh Ejercito, 21, said he was anxious to see his whole family after almost a year.<\/p>\n
His father, 54-year-old Joey Ejercito, saw him for the first time in Guam on Monday night. The older Ejercito was wearing a welcome shirt with his son\u2019s face on it, just as the family had planned, along with a \u201cwelcome home\u201d banner prepared for the much-awaited occasion.<\/p>\n
The young Ejercito said he will pursue a degree in criminal justice at the University of Guam and would like to become an officer after college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to be a musician as well. I play three instruments\u2014flute, saxophone and piccolo,\u201d he said, adding that the welcoming was \u201coverwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n
SPC Dan Bicera also said \u201cit\u2019s good to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike the other soldiers, however, Bicera\u2019s immediate family was not there to greet him at the airport as they\u2019re all now back in the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Bicera said he will go back to work and pursue a degree in either criminal justice or human resources. He works at Rome Research Corp. as a security employee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deployment was a new experience,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The father-and-daughter soldiers\u2014SPC Ivan Igitol and SPC Britney Igitol\u2014were also beaming as they were welcomed by families and friends. They said the welcoming was \u201cawesome, tremendous and very overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels great, [there\u2019s] nothing like home. It\u2019s been a long year, can\u2019t wait to settle down and come back to real life,\u201d the older Igitol said. \u201c[It\u2019s] a whole new experience back there. It\u2019s totally out of this world,\u201d he said of his deployment.<\/p>\n
The younger Igitol said she had butterflies in the stomach, excited, and had mixed emotion when the plane landed on Saipan.<\/p>\n
She said she and her father were planning to surprise their family. Little did they know that they will be the ones surprised when their family on Saipan flew to Guam to welcome them last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we were the ones who will surprise them but they surprised me so I started crying. It was a good thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She plans to go back to Northern Marianas College to pursue criminal justice.<\/p>\n
Marie Salas-Igitol, the wife and daughter of the Igitol soldiers and lead person for the Family Readiness Group, said she and the rest of the family \u201cturned the surprise around\u201d when they traveled to Guam for the arrival last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an exciting moment in Guam,\u201d she said, adding that it was a \u201cgreat feeling to have my husband, my daughter home.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s also excited and overjoyed for the families who were seeing their soldiers for the first time after deployment.<\/p>\n
The governor, meanwhile, said Salas-Igitol was helpful in uplifting the soldiers and their soldiers\u2019 spirits throughout the deployment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very wonderful thing to have someone like Marie who can coordinate\u2026She did a very wonderful job,\u201d Inos added.<\/p>\n
SPC Rita Taitano, holding a bouquet of flowers she got from her family, said she\u2019s thankful for her family and community members for taking the time to welcome them home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad that they\u2019re here. Everybody showed [up]. Some had to take off from school and work just to show up and now we\u2019re going to go [for] barbecue,\u201d she said. She also recognized Kagman Elementary School students and teachers for their welcome banner.<\/p>\n
Taitano said she will go back to work at Shell Marianas under Jim Arenovski\u2019s Delta Management, and later pursue her studies in Guam.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking into [getting an] education [degree]. I love kids and my family is really big so helping them out little by little,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Taitano related that when she turned 21 in September in Afghanistan, she got 15 care packages, \u201cone from every family member so it was something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the ride from Guam to Saipan was \u201ckind of bumpy and scary but it\u2019s good to be home. I wasn\u2019t expecting a big surprise, a lot of people. Thank you everybody for coming out. Ow! Thank you. I\u2019m trying to catch my breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the Igitols, Del Rosario, Taitano, Bicera, Ejercito and Espayos, the other returning soldiers were SPC Ken Mojica, SPC Delorina Rabauliman, SPC Tiffany Santos, SPC Hainy Borja, SPC Andrew Delos Reyes, SPC Nathaniel Mateo, SPC Andrew Reyes, and SPC John Umbay.<\/p>\n
David M. Sablan, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve state chair for the Guam-CNMI Committee, said it\u2019s a \u201cgreat occasion\u201d to welcome home the soldiers after their deployment to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s also great to see the community\u2019s support and the government support. ESGR is also here to support them. We thank them for protecting and defending our way of life,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
The welcoming at the airport was followed by a motorcade. <\/p>\n
Around Saipan, yellow ribbons were tied to trees and poles to show the community\u2019s gratefulness and \u201cwelcome home\u201d for the soldiers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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