Advance Party - 2nd SCR Warriors Are Home...

Families wait for the first 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment soldiers to arrive home to Vilseck from a 15-month Iraq mission on Thursday
Seth Robson/S&S

Evening...

Happy HD! Check out the latest story to hit the web on the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. The advance party is back in Germany - can you say yes!!!!!!

Enjoy the story and photos!!

Chris, we love you son and are so very proud of you!

Be safe!

v/r,

Collabman

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Stryker troops returning to Germany
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, October 9, 2008

VILSECK, Germany — Fifteen months after they deployed to Iraq, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment troops are returning to Germany.

Fifty soldiers from an advance party marched proudly Wednesday morning into the Memorial Fitness Center at Vilseck where hundreds of family members and friends waited to cheer them home.

Staff Sgt. Jimmy Novak, 32, of Long Lane, Mo., found himself in the arms of his wife, Heather, and three young daughters whom he last saw a year ago during mid-tour leave.

The girls were wearing T-shirts they made for the event. Nine-year-old Tessa Mari’s said: "Move it, My dad’s coming home and I’ll run you over."

She spent the first few minutes of the reunion hugging her dad tightly as he held her sisters — Samantha, 5 and Karah, 3, in each arm.

"This feels awesome," Heather Novak said. "It has been a really long 15 months, and it is so wonderful to have him home."

Jimmy Novak, back from his third deployment, said he was impressed by how much his younger kids had grown during his absence.

He thought about the homecoming constantly during the last part of his Iraq mission. Now he’s looking forward to doing "absolutely nothing", he said.

"Just kicking back and relaxing … hanging around the house and watching movies and being with my family. We’re probably going to go downtown and look at some of the scenery and maybe tour a castle," he said.

Nearby, Capt. Matt Rasmussen, 29, of Conyers, Ga., got a big kiss from his wife, Jenny, who was clutching their daughter, Elena, 2.

"I last saw them in May when I was home on leave," said Rasmussen, who is the officer in charge of an advance party for the thousands of other 2nd Cav Troops due home in the coming weeks.

The Rasmussen family plans a trip to the Canary Islands after Thanksgiving, "… to just lay on the beach," he said.

Jenny Rasmussen said she’s glad to have her husband home.

"It is a huge relief and we are very proud and thankful," she said.

The unit’s rear detachment commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Rickard, said the returned soldiers will undergo a seven-day U.S. Army Europe program to transition them from a combat environment to garrison environment.

"One of the ways we protect our recently redeployed force is to ease them back to the garrison environment with strong leaders carefully monitoring soldiers’ travel, alcohol consumption and leisure activity," Rickard said.

Returning soldiers will have limits to alcohol intake and limits to travel distances for a short period while they become reacquainted, he said.

On Nov. 25, the regiment will honor fallen comrades by dedicating a memorial monument at Rose Barracks, then conduct a redeployment ceremony to uncase the regimental colors marking the official return of all its units to Germany, Rickard said.

Troops from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment pray after arriving in Vilseck
Seth Robson/S&S

Staff Sgt. Jimmy Novak, 32, of Long Lane, Mo. gets a hug from his daughter, Tessa Mari, 9, after returning to Vilseck
Seth Robson/S&S

Matt Rasmussen, 29,of Conyers, Ga. got a big kiss from his wife, Jenny, who was clutching their daughter, Elena, 2
Seth Robson/S&S