BIA greets troops on 9-11

BANGOR – Nearly 250 U.S. troops stepped on American soil for the first time in eight months Thursday night, spending the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at Bangor International Airport by relaxing and calling home to their families.

A crowd of more than 40 greeters gathered at the airport to welcome the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, forming a human corridor of red, white and blue upon the unit’s 7:30 p.m. arrival Thursday.

Stopping briefly on their way to home base in Miramar, Calif., from Kuwait, many of the troops thought of food, friends and family before contemplating the 2001 terror attacks.

“We’re trying to just take it one day at a time,” said Marine Dana Jennings of Concord, N.H., back in the United States after an eight-month deployment. “We try not to make it more than just the day that we’re arriving.”

A hot meal and a new husband waiting at her home in Anaheim, Calif., were foremost in the mind of 1st Lt. Kathia Rivas.

“Right now, [my family] is cooking me a home-cooked meal. I don’t care if it’s 2 in the morning, I’m gonna eat it,” she said.

Rivas has spent seven of her eight months of marriage on deployment in Kuwait as a communications officer.

“Instead of going on a honeymoon, I went to war,” she said.

Remembering the victims of the 2001 attacks comes second only to thoughts of loved ones for Rivas and her fellow troops, she said.

“Everybody’s just dying to get home,” she said. “You do take a moment to reflect on it and remember those who passed away.”

No special arrangements were made for Thursday’s welcoming, according to Bill Knight of Bradford, participating in his 99th troop greeting since May.

“The important thing is to let the troops know we’re with them and we support them 100 percent,” said Bradford, an 82-year-old World War II veteran who organizes the receptions. “When they come down the ramp and see us here they don’t know what to think.”

Troops were treated to Gifford’s Stars and Stripes flavor ice cream, many of them licking spoons and scraping styrofoam bowls as they talked to loved ones on cell phones provided by Unicel.

A little prodding from Knight convinced some troops to call their families, despite the late hour in some time zones, he said.

“A lot of them say ‘Oh no, they’re sleeping.’ But I say, ‘You better call or you’ll be in trouble,'” Knight said.