Harlingen-based company comes home

HARLINGEN — Wives, girlfriends, moms, dads and children rushed forward to greet soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve’s 812th Quartermaster Company as the troops returned home Tuesday from a one-year tour of duty in Iraq.

A total of 142 soldiers from the Harlingen-based unit burst from three buses, wasting no time in grabbing duffel bags and backpacks and lining up for a quick formation in front of the Armed Forces Reserve Center.

Soon after, the soldiers were falling into the arms of their loved ones.

They were greeted with balloons, posters and country-and-western music booming from a sound system that overpowered a band of mariachis serenading them upon their return.

Army Spc. Maria Melgoza of Weslaco was greeted by her brother, Juan, and parents, Lucrecia and Rafael.

"(My mother) has been waiting for this day," Juan said while his mother was trying to escape the broiling South Texas sun by sitting on a folding chair next to the wall of the reserve center on Teege Avenue.

"She’s the youngest of nine kids," Juan said proudly of his sister, Maria.

Despite the heat on the asphalt parking lot, the soldier said everything about home was wonderful for her, especially her family, who had driven to Harlingen from Brownsville to wait for the busloads of soldiers.

"This is a lot better (weather) than Iraq," Spc. Melgoza said.

She couldn’t wait to immerse herself in everything she had missed for the past year, she said.

"My family, the food … everything," she said, her eyes shining as she saw the large crowd gathered in front of the buses.

Spc. Melgoza actually spent 10 months in Iraq on her first mobilization, she said. She is optimistic fighting will eventually end in the war-ravaged nation.

"It should get better," she said confidently.

The 812th was the first Army unit from the Rio Grande Valley to deploy shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The recent mission to Iraq was the group’s third deployment to the Middle East, the most for any Army unit in the Valley, Army Maj. Juan A. Garces said.

The 812th is the only Army unit in the Valley to serve twice in Operation Iraqi Freedom and once in Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes operations in Afghanistan, Garces said.

Macario Jose Mejia, who had waited for more than an hour, planned to greet his son, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Gilbert Mejia, he said.

The elder Mejia had served with the Army Rangers in Vietnam, he said.

Many other veterans, some wearing uniforms or caps from organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion, patiently waited to cheer the returning soldiers.

Mayor Chris Boswell, Army Reserve officers, news reporters and TV camera crews, some from Mexico, eagerly awaited the parade of motorcycles and buses.

Army Sgt. Hector Perez of McAllen quickly was surrounded by his family and embraced his children with his wife, Manica, at his side.

"We have too much to make up," Perez said, noting he had been fortunate to be able to return home on leave for the birth of his youngest child.

But Perez is used to it, he said, after serving 16 years of active duty.

"This is my third mobilization, second time overseas," he said.

Army Lt. Col. Mike Caraballo of San Antonio, who serves his reserve drill weekends in Harlingen, said he expects to be deployed later to Afghanistan.

"I’ll probably get at least one year ‘dwell time’ before I have to go, but it depends on the needs of the service," he said.

Army 1st Lt. Frank Muniz of Los Fresnos said he also probably will go to Afghanistan.

Muniz, who is single and volunteered for the year’s duty in Iraq, said he is an active-duty reservist, so he will first return to duty in Little Rock, Ark., and have stateside duty until he goes overseas again, probably in three years.

"But that’s an estimate," he said, adding there is no guarantee he won’t be sent back overseas sooner.

He missed home-cooked food the most, he said.

Most of the Army Reservists are civilians who will return to their jobs, or students who will return to school, an Army Reserve spokesman said.

Several soldiers said the summer temperatures in the Valley seemed cool and refreshing compared to Iraq.

"It’s 130 degrees over there on average in the summer," Muniz said.

As the mariachis continued to compete with recorded music on the sound system, motorcyclists who had accompanied the parade of buses and other vehicles from Raymondville began rolling through the gate of the Armed Forces Reserve Center.

But families in their cars carrying their precious soldiers were first to leave, intent on taking their recently returned loved ones straight home.

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Allen Essex is a reporter for the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.