By Jeremy Z. Young

“It’s been tough,” said Amy Gresham, wife of Sgt. Jason Gresham of the 1175th Det. II Transport Unit. As she awaited her husband’s arrival at the National Guard Armory in Jacksboro May 13, casually dressed in Capri pants and a gray T-shirt with a pink heart that read, “My Soldier My Hero,” she gets a call from him saying they’re leaving Knoxville.

Common sentiment among those waiting was that it’s been tough. Those arriving shared a sentiment of their own: happiness to be home again.

The transport unit shipped out May 7, 2007. Many of the 35 from Jacksboro were part of the 278th Armored Calvary Regiment that toured Iraq in 2004. Their job on this mission was to transport heavy military equipment into Iraq from outside the country.

Gresham anticipated her husband’s arrival, as did her two boys, Dale and Logan.

“We had been married 2  weeks when he was deployed the first time,” she said. “He came home a year later; 16 months later he was redeployed.”

Gresham, who was laid off from her job in January, said, “It’s been tough and I’ve been under a lot of stress. I’ve been mom and dad both.”

Jason has served in the military for 11 years.

Five year-old Kameron and her sister Brice, 8, couldn’t wait to see their papaw Nick. Their grandmother, Darlene Debari knows all-to-well about her husband being gone to a war zone.

“This is his second tour,” she said of her husband. “It’s been rough; hard on the girls. They hear a car going up the road and think it’s their papaw Nick.”

“We’ve missed him,” she said. “But he’s already signed up to go back if that’s what it takes.”

Proudly, she said, “He said, ‘He’d serve his country no matter what it takes.’”

“My little brother’s on that bus,” Sean McElroy said about his younger brother Donald.

“Even when he was home, he was a big part of the Honor Guard,” McElroy said. “He’s been in it since he was in high school. He loves it.”

“I hope he’s happy to be home,” McElroy wondered.

Within moments those wonders were over.

Troopers and other police escorts ushered in the bus carrying brothers, husbands and fathers back to where they belong.
Fresh off the bus, John Kirby said, “I don’t think there’s words to describe it. I’m glad we all came back in one piece.”

While the 1175th did experience enemy fire, IEDs and other potentially fatal elements of war, none were lost or harmed on this past year’s mission.

Sgt. Mark Ingram briefly reflected back on the mission, “We traveled over 1.6 million miles into Iraq on over 80 missions. We moved over $800 billion worth of equipment.”

“We were lucky,” he said. “We were safe and every one of us came back.”

Ingram said, “It’s beyond comprehension. I’m so thrilled to be back in the nice green mountains and out of the sand.”