Relatives welcome Dexter soldier home from duty in Iraq

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AUGUSTA – Spc. Brock Kimball had his arms filled with love Thursday, as he warmly hugged his wife, Angela, and Kayden, his baby son who was born two days before Kimball was deployed to Iraq for eight months.

Moments before, Angela Kimball, 20, eagerly bobbed up and down in the crowd of soldiers and family members at the Augusta Armory, trying to locate her husband among the masses gathered to welcome back loved ones.

Her intent: “I just plan on bombarding him as soon as I see him,” she said, with a mischievous smile.

To her dismay, seconds passed, then minutes, before she tracked down her husband in the large auditorium.

From across the room, he saw her first.

And then she turned, and, startled, her eyes widened.

Her plan to run into his arms changed, and Angela tearfully walked into her husband’s embrace with the wide-eyed baby propped on her hip.

Resting her head on Kimball’s chest, Angela sobbed softly, as the returning soldier stole the opportunity to gaze at his son for the first time in eight months.

Kissing both wife and son, now 81/2 months old, on the cheek, Kimball moved on to hug more than 10 family members who had traveled to Augusta to welcome the soldier home.

“I’m full of joy,” said Kimball, 26, of Dexter. “I really am speechless. I’m really happy to be home with family and friends.

“Now I have to put the last eight months behind me and move on with the rest of my life,” he said.

The same scene was repeated Thursday throughout the huge building.

Three buses carrying the 138 members of the 152nd Maintenance Company departed at 2 a.m. Thursday from Fort Dix, N.J., and arrived slightly after 11:30 a.m. in Augusta, to crowds of family and friends anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Of the 138 soldiers, 12 are from Greater Bangor, 19 from Aroostook County and 12 from midcoast Maine, while the rest represented towns near Augusta, Lewiston and Portland.

The company had no casualties during the mission, Maj. Michael Backus, Maine Army National Guard director of public affairs, said Thursday.

State legislators took a break in their sessions to welcome home the soldiers with Gov. John Baldacci, but none spoke at the ceremony that marked the end of the unit’s deployment.

Kimball joined the Maine Army National Guard as a reservist in 2002. Last July he was called to Fort Carson in Colorado to train for two weeks before deployment for eight months to Iraq.

As a member of the 172nd Army National Guard division in Brewer, Kimball and approximately 20 other soldiers from his attachment joined the 152nd in the mission. The 172nd also was deployed to Iraq a few months ago.

According to family members, Kimball served as a prison guard at Camp Liberty, northeast of the Baghdad airport.

“He’s always wanted to be in the military since he was a little kid,” the soldier’s mother, Roxanne Kimball, of Newfane, N.Y., said.

“He’s mentioned going back to be with his group [the 172nd], but if he went back, he’d be doing convoy escorts,” she said as her voice trailed off. A worried look crossed her otherwise cheerful face.

For now, Kimball said, he is going to enjoy catching up on the moments he has missed with his son. For the first time, the young father will be able to hear his son speak.

“His first word was ‘dada,’ and Brock was real happy about that,” Angela Kimball said.

Just before the reunion, the waiting family members described what the separation had been like.

In August, Kimball flew from Colorado to Bangor to witness his son’s birth. The family physician induced his wife’s labor so Kimball could catch the first few hours of his son’s life before he went overseas.

The infant was born at 8:54 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005. Kimball flew out of Bangor airport at 10 a.m. Aug. 5, headed to Colorado for last-minute deployment preparations.

“Every night I kissed our wedding picture,” Angela Kimball recalled, adding that she was embarrassed because she thought some might find that tacky.

Roxanne Kimball confessed she slept with her son’s shirt under her pillow every night – she said it carried his scent.

Angela Kimball stayed with her mother, Melissa McAlpine, in Dexter while Kimball was away. The two now will return to the home where Kimball grew up, also in Dexter.

The couple acquired the home after Kimball’s parents, Roxanne and Albert Kimball Jr., moved to New York after the Dexter Shoe Co. shut down. Both were employed by the local company and were laid off.

After enjoying dinner with the whole family Thursday night, the soldier’s next scheduled commitment is in June, when he will attend a Red Sox game with a few of his buddies from the 152nd.

“The next few days I am going to try and relax; I’ll have plenty of time off until I go to the Sox game,” Kimball said.