Homeward bound? Families anxiously await return of troops

By CHELSEA J. CARTER
Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) Audrey Trevino has played it over in her mind a thousand times: Her Navy husband steps off the ship after months at sea supporting the war in Iraq, grabs her in his arms and kisses her.

``I'm going to be there waiting when the ship comes home, whenever that is,'' said Trevino, 27, of San Antonio, Texas.

Now that the battle for Iraq is over, the lingering question for her and other military family members is when will the troops come home?

For some, it's a matter of weeks.

In San Diego and Everett, Wash., the anticipation is growing after word came that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, a floating airfield for the Navy's most modern fighter jets, is on its way home. The Lincoln and its seven-ship battle group have been at sea nearly nine months, longer than any U.S. carrier group now on duty. It will offload its airwing and leave some of its support ships in San Diego before returning to its home port in Everett.

For others, especially those whose loved ones are Marines or Army soldiers, the wait will be much longer. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it likely will be several months before most of the ground troops leave Iraq.

Antonia Aurilio, 28, of Bridgeport, Conn., said she has known from the day her husband, Gunnery Sgt. James Aurilio, was deployed that it would be months before he returned with the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division to Twentynine Palms, Calif.

She hopes he returns by August, in time for the birth of their second child.

``The rumors are starting, and you just hope they are true,'' she said.

Ten-year-old Jake Rabidou of Camp Lejeune, N.C., also doesn't know how long he's going to have to wait to see his father, a Marine gunnery sergeant who has been deployed since January with a reconnaissance unit. He wants him home soon, he said, ``because I miss him.''

Kathy Delay of Everett, Wash., is happy that her husband, hospital Corpsman Mark Delay, is headed home aboard the Lincoln, but her thoughts also are with others whose spouses remain in the Middle East.

``Our husbands are on the way home. There are men on the front lines who are going to be there for months,'' she said. ``So it's hard to be so excited.''

Some cities already have had homecoming celebrations. In Norfolk, Va., and Groton, Conn., transport ships and submarines returned to thousands of flag-waving family members.

Members of the 507th Maintenance Support Company based at Fort Bliss, Texas, remain overseas, although five POWs from that company are scheduled to fly back to the base on Saturday. Two Apache helicopter crewmen who were among the rescued POWs also will return Saturday to Fort Hood, Texas.

``We will have several welcome celebrations, not only for (the 507th) but for all our soldiers,'' Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offut said.

The wife of former POW Army Spc. Joseph Hudson already has plans for when her husband returns.

``He just wants dinner cooked for him. He's told me that he wants green chile chicken enchiladas,'' said Natalie Hudson, of El Paso, Texas.

Everett plans a welcome home party for the USS Lincoln, with a cheering crowd waving 20,000 yellow pompoms. Club Broadway has even begun collecting donations from local customers so it can throw its own party for the crew.

``They wouldn't have to spend a dime in here,'' said Diane Kennedy, the club's manager.

In San Diego, plans also are under way for a party when the battle group arrives.

For Trevino, the return of her husband's transport ship, the San Diego-based USS Dubuque, can't come soon enough. That ship is not part of the Lincoln's group.

She and her husband, Signalman Victor Trevino, have been married a little more than two years, half of which her husband has spent at sea.

``I'll just keep thinking about it,'' she said. ``It kind of makes the wait worth it.''

She's looking forward to him sharing the journal he has kept throughout the war.

``I know this is going to be a really big thing that happened to him, and he's going to want to talk about,'' she said. ``He doesn't want to forget any of it, and I don't want him to.''

While families look to the day their loved ones return, nearly all say the hardest part for military families will come with the end of celebrations.

``I think it's a different kind of homecoming that any other deployment. I've never had a husband come home from war before,'' Aurilio said. ``I understand it's going to take time to get back to normal. I know they have seen stuff I can't comprehend.''

Aurilio said she doesn't plan to push her Marine husband to talk about the war.

``When he's ready, he'll talk about it,'' she said. ``When he gets home, I just want us to spend some time together.''

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Associated Press reporters William L. Holmes in Raleigh, N.C., Chris Roberts in El Paso, Texas, and Scott Thomsen in Seattle contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)