Coming home

The advance party has arrived! :)
They came in three waves. A few one day last week, then Tuesday a group in the morning and another in the evening. GOOD TIMES!

The first group:

The General and Brigade Command Sergeant Major entertain babies while we await the arrival of the bus:

Morning group:

Mingling once they are dismissed from formation:

It's good to be home.

This dad just met his son for the very first time.

Single Soldiers are assigned barracks rooms and receive keys. They don't know that the spouses of their unit, the rear detachment, and the FRGs/FRSAs have been making their rooms homier with snacks, toiletries, bedding, welcome home signs, and notes of thanks. :)

Afternoon group march in:


In formation, the General actually had each one say his/her name to be recognized individually. This won't happen in a main body with hundreds of Soldiers. So it was kind of neat to get to cheer for each one.

See those squares hanging behind them? Those are the quilts of 2 out of 4 companies. (the others are further down) Every Soldier has a square on the quilt of his/her company.

A few of the people there for cheering and support have Soldiers returning with the main body. How awesome that they would come and welcome home some, knowing that it will still be a while before theirs will walk through that door.

This weekend and next week starts the build up to get ready to receive the rest! YAYE!!!