Home For Now

So last night was kind of bittersweet. These are from a late night return of an Army National Guard unit that had been away for training the last three months. Everyone was so excited they got to see their loved ones again. It was only a four day leave though, and the family members were very aware that after the four days were over, the soldiers would be shipped out again, this time for a year overseas to Iraq.

The family I have been following for the newspaper thankfully told me all about this. The date and time of the soldiers' return changed so many times, but they kept me up to date. Here they are above pointing out dad on the bus.

And here they are reunited.

It all went so fast. I expected them to get into formation when they got off the bus, or that they'd have to report or check out at the armory or something. But as soon as they got off the bus, their families immediately swooped them away. I shot a few frames of the family for the photo story, then went to shoot some other families for the next days' paper. I was gone maybe three minutes, but when I went back to look for the family, they had already packed up and headed home.

I'll be checking in on them over the next four days. The story is really about the family without dad, so I don't think I need a whole lot from their long weekend together. And for the record, I am happy with the way the first part of the series came out now, and I think the black and white really worked.