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BANGOR – He was the 300,000th.
Even though the frosting on the cake provided by the Maine Troop Greeters stuck to the roof of Spc. Carlos Smith’s mouth when he tried to exclaim his title as the 300,000th member of the military to be welcomed at the airport, he was still all smiles Thursday evening, excited to be back on American soil and home in time to celebrate his son’s fourth birthday.
“I saw all the people out here clapping, and I just started smiling,” Smith said of the reception he received from the nearly 50 troop greeters and bystanders at Bangor International Airport as they welcomed the unit home. “It’s so nice to see people who appreciate what you’re doing.”
Smith, 28, of Alamo, Ga., was pulled from the line formed by members of the 269th Signal Company out of Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Ariz., as they filed from the international terminal.
He was recognized as the 300,000th soldier to be welcomed at the airport with the group’s warm applause, hugs and well wishes. This was Smith’s second tour overseas, and he recently had spent six months in Kuwait.
The troop greeters, made up of local residents and veterans, began counting in 2003 the military flights they have welcomed from the current military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the 148 soldiers on Smith’s plane, the count came to 300,012.
The Maine Troop Greeters formed during the Gulf War in the early ’90s, welcoming American soldiers back from overseas. BIA has become a pivotal stopping point for many military flights, allowing planes to refuel and greeters to rejuvenate the spirits of America’s soldiers.
Greeters show up to welcome all soldiers, even in the middle of the night. A few dedicated greeters show up for almost all of the flights that pass through the airport.
Smith’s 269th Signal Company arrived at BIA a little after 5:30 p.m. after a stopover in Shannon, Ireland.
The greeters presented Smith with a bag filled with Maine-made items, including honey, canned blueberries, a candle, and a stuffed lobster and moose he can take home to Georgia for his daughter, Jamilah, 8, and son, Ethan, 3.
The reception was bittersweet, though.
After welcoming Smith’s unit home, following right behind was a unit bound for Kuwait.
The unit, out of Fort Hood in Texas, was treated to the same cake and goodies and the same free cell phone calls to say their last good-byes on American soil, but troop greeters were unable to say, “Welcome home,” which some say breaks their hearts.
“I just wish they were all coming home,” said Cathy Czarnecki, a troop greeter from Hermon.
Soldiers and greeters agree that the mind-set is different when walking through the BIA terminal, depending on whether you’re going overseas or coming home.
“When you’re going over, you keep your mind-set focused on the job and your task,” Sgt. Dominic Gotch of the 4th Infantry Division of Fort Hood, said just before leaving for his second tour in Iraq. “When you’re coming back home, you’re trying to be normal again and focus on transitioning back into family life.”
Gotch will miss his nine-year wedding anniversary on May 17, but he said his wife, whom he met when they were both Marines, fully supports him and his mission. He said she has become the full-time boss of the house who “makes everything happen.”
So on this day, Smith is the lucky one. He will make it back to Georgia just in time to celebrate his son’s fourth birthday on June 24.
“My son keeps talking about this amusement park in Georgia, so when I get home I’ll take a few weeks’ leave and take him there to go on the kiddie rides and stuff for his birthday party,” Smith said, devouring the red-white-and-blue frosted cake.
All the attention Thursday evening didn’t seem to bother Smith, even though he had been in the country only minutes before the media and greeters bombarded him.
“Oh, man, he was born for this,” said Smith’s self-proclaimed “sidekick,” Herbert Brown, 22, of the Bronx, N.Y.
“He is Mr. Spotlight.”
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