Families of Iowa soldiers ready for Homecoming Day

IOWA — Iowa families are less than 24 hours away from being back in the arms of their loved ones. One hundred-fifty soldiers from the 831st Engineer Vertical Construction Company waved goodbye last September. The unit will return home Friday after nearly a year in the Middle East.

“Super, super excited.  We have a young daughter.  When he left, she was five-months-old.  She’ll be able to walk to him for the first time so that will be really exciting,” said Hannah Ware.

Her husband, First Lieutenant Bradley Ware, is a civil engineer with the 831st. Ware says holding down the fort at her home in Lisbon took some getting used to.

“Honestly, I was expecting it to be a lot worse and harder than it really was. Once you really get into your own routine, it makes a big difference. A lot of it for me was just keeping in mind this is just temporary, the end date will come and each day that goes by is another day closer,” said Ware.

Homecoming Day is almost here for Rosie Burnell of Cedar Rapids.

“I’m excited to say the least. I feel like there’s a lot of emotions in it, but we’re all very excited, it’s been a long time,” said Burnell.

She and her husband, Sgt. Brett Burnell, have three kids. Their youngest was only a few months old when he deployed. While her husband had an important job to do, he missed a lot of firsts at home.

“We get emotional every time we do talk about it, but we’re happy that he’s going to be home soon, and we’ll be able to focus on the future and what that means for us as a family,” said Burnell.

After waiting for so long to be reunited, these soldier wives have only a few more hours to go.

“I’m excited and I’m going to run for him,” said Ware.

“I think I might be too emotional and crying to do a lot, but I think my girls are excited. They keep saying they’re going to run up to daddy when they see him,” said Burnell.

A welcome home ceremony for the 831st will take place tomorrow at the Main Hanger of the Des Moines Airbase at 3:35 p.m.

While away, the 831st completed more than 50 construction projects at seven U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, and Kuwait. The Iowa soldiers also received more than 150 Army Commendations and Achievement Medals.

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