Soldiers with Santa Rosa-based battalion return home after long deployment

In the distance, an Allegiant Air Boeing 737 approached and like everyone around her, Julianna Hopkins of Rohnert Park looked over expectantly. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Aaron Hopkins, was aboard the plane, one of about 125 soldiers with the 579th Engineer Battalion to return home from the Middle East on Saturday.

“It feels surreal that he’s actually going to be flying in at any moment right now and I just can’t wait to have him home,” she said. “It's been a very long 10 months.”

A few minutes later the soldiers of the Santa Rosa-based California National Guard unit stood before their commander, Lt. Col. Robert Langston, in formation on the tarmac at the KaiserAir Jet Center terminal at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.

“On the command of dismissed, go to your families,” said Langston. “Dismissed.”

In a matter of seconds, the Hopkins found each other and locked in a long embrace.

The soldiers arrived in two flights that departed Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday morning and landed about an hour apart in the early afternoon. About 50 people — wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, children, mothers, fathers, and general well-wishers — gathered to welcome each flight.

“They put their lives on the line,” said Bill Thompson of Windsor, who knew none of the returning soldiers but came out to support them.

“And on hold,” said his wife, Judy. “They put their lives on hold.”

Many of the returning soldiers, whether accustomed to the chain of command or for other reasons, declined to speak to a reporter. Others acknowledged that coming home again was an experience loaded with a complex mix of emotions and feelings.

“It’s stressful,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joel DeFreitas of Santa Rosa, standing with his son Leo, 4. “Last time I was deployed, I didn't have this guy, so it was a little bit less emotional.”

Leo’s mother, Kara DeFreitas, said that she and Leo spoke with Joel almost daily. At first she said, it had been hard for her son to get used to seeing his father on a screen and he had balked in those moments.

“After three or four months, he came around and was really excited to talk to daddy on the phone,” she said. “Just seeing them reunite is going to be the most meaningful moment.”

The battalion of about 900 soldiers had been based in Kuwait, but had conducted operations throughout the region, including Jordan, Qatar, Iraq and Syria, said Command Sgt. Major Bradley W. Lema.

Altogether, during their deployment, the 579th completed about 900 projects, Lema said, ranging from concrete pads to buildings, to guard shacks to towers and bunkers.

That work took place in a tense environment colored by the ongoing war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.

U.S. troops have been attacked hundreds of times since the war began, often by militia groups aligned with Iran, and the 579th, said Lema, was in the line of fire.

“We got there at the height of all the attacks,” said Lema. “And we took the brunt of all the attacks. The battalion came back very decorated.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @jeremyhay