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73 Mont. guardsmen arrive home from Iraq

“It’s great to be home,” exclaimed Staff Sgt. Scott Milburn, surrounded by dignitaries but looking for his family Wednesday after a 60-day deployment in Iraq.

First off the chartered jet, Milburn was among 73 members of the Montana Air National Guard’s 120th Fighter Wing who landed Wednesday in Great Falls. The rest of the nearly 200 deployed airmen, their plane delayed by mechanical problems, are scheduled to arrive Saturday from Balad Air Force Base just north of Baghdad.

“A commander’s mission is first to support the ground troops, followed closely by bringing all your troops home intact,” said Lt. Col. Mark T. Scharf, who headed the deployment. “We’ve done that, and it’s a good feeling.”

After the Boeing 757 touched down on Gore Hill, it sat on the tarmac for several minutes to allow time for Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s plane to land behind it. As several hundred family members waited, Schweitzer rushed to the receiving line to join Adjutant General Randy Mosley and Brig. Gen. John del Toro in welcoming the troops home.

“Well, the governor was here in the middle of the night to see us off, so we kind of expected to see him here again today,” Scharf said, adding that the late arrival was not a problem.

The 120th’s deployment was key, Lt. Col. Buel J. Dickson said, because supporting ground troops with guns and bombs was what he and the other pilots have been trained to do.

“I got rid of a weapons cache, and a lot of bombs and secondary weapons went off,” he said. “It was satisfying to know they couldn’t be used against us.”

Capt. Carol J. Kohtz, the wing’s first female F-16 pilot, was exhilarated to use her flying skills in combat.

“It was phenomenal,” Kohtz said. “There was a lot of excitement in giving the people on the ground some peace of mind that we were overhead. We were their eyes in the sky, and we could direct ground movements against the enemy or take action ourselves.”

Another pilot, Maj. Jason W. Green, remembered being part of the air support for a mission that went on to destroy a building believed to be an insurgent torture chamber.

“It was empty at the time,” Green said. “But it was designed to send a message to those people who had been holding the prisoners.”

Senior Master Sgt. Laurie A. Olson, the senior female noncommissioned officer, said the score of female airmen held up well, even when their air base was under attack.

“The mortars were scary,” said Olson, holding a bouquet of flowers from her family. “We had to hit the ground pretty quick. But there were concrete blocks everywhere, so we were pretty well protected.”

Col. Mike McDonald, the 120th Wing commander, called the return an awesome day. “The only flaw is that mechanical problems delayed that first plane. Otherwise, they’d all be home right now,” he said.

For the 120th Fighter Wing, it was a good time to leave Iraq, as fighting with Shiite militants intensified and the death toll for American soldiers hit its highest mark since last September.

It was time to come home again, agreed Lt. Col. Vinnie Bakke, his arm around his 19-year-old daughter Amanda, who will be graduating from Great Falls High School in a couple of weeks.

“I wanted to make her graduation,” Bakke said, looking at his daughter.

“I’m really glad you could, Dad,” she replied.

“I was over there in ’04, and I could see how much things have improved,” Bakke said. “The base has expanded, services have improved and the area just outside the base is much safer than it had been four years ago.

“It was very rewarding to see that our presence in Iraq has been making a difference,” he said.