Sgt. Willie Franklin of Thomson holds his grandaughter, Maya Lazbey, 3, after the welcome home ceremony for soldiers of the 319th Transportation Company in Augusta. ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF

319th returns home

The soldiers of the 319th Transportation Company lined up in formation at their Augusta headquarters Friday - this time as Iraq war veterans.

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They stood at attention in the basement drill room, saluting as The Star-Spangled Banner played through a loudspeaker hooked up to a boom box.

Their waists were tighter, their jawbones were more rigid and their eyes were more penetrating than they were the last time the 319th lined up at the Army Reserve center off Wrightsboro Road. That was in January, before the unit loaded into buses bound for Fort Stewart. The forest fatigues they wore in January were replaced by desert camouflage.

Friday's homecoming ceremony marked the 319th's return to Augusta after a six-month deployment to Kuwait and Iraq. The soldiers hauled fuel for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during the march to Baghdad.

"You have done something that most people will never do in their lives, and you need to keep that in the back of your mind," 319th commander Capt. Mohandas Martin told the troops.

The unit finished outprocessing at Fort Stewart on Thursday. Leave begins Sunday, and the soldiers become civilians again Sept. 27, or Oct. 4 for members of the advance team that deployed in November.

Soldiers said never again will they take the little things for granted, such as running water and a green landscape. Sgt. Willie Winston, 39, of Sylvania, said the war strengthened his bonds to God and his family and made him more mature.

His wife, Renea, 36, said she's grown up a lot too.

"I went through it also," Mrs. Winston said. "We've both changed."

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Saturday, September 6, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle