Welcomed home from Iraq

Diane Cammarata, right, of Springfield, Vt., holds her sister Caithness, 10, after arriving in Concord, NH with about 60 others from a N.H. based National Guard air ambulance unit.

http://sentinelsource.com/articles/2010/08/18/news/local/free/id_409933.txt           # # # # WELCOMED HOME  •  Diane Cammarata, right, of Springfield, Vt., who grew up in Charlestown, holds her sister Caithness, 10, after arriving in Concord, home from her National Guard service as a flight medic.  •  N.H. National Guard unit arrives safely from Iraq  •  By Casey Farrar  •  Sentinel Staff  •  Published: Wednesday, August 18, 2010  •  CONCORD — The story of the N.H. National Guard air ambulance unit’s deployment began 362 days ago, on the same tarmac where it ended Tuesday afternoon.  •  About 60 soldiers of the Concord-based C Company of the 3rd/238th Aviation Regiment — including some from the Monadnock Region — stepped off two buses shortly before 1 p.m. to the waiting arms of family members and friends, ending a 10-month deployment in Iraq.  •  As they wove through the crowd to meet their loved ones, the soldiers were greeted with banners, balloons, handwritten signs and flowers.  •  Smiles and pats on the back replaced the somber mood of a year ago. This time, the tears were of joy.  •  Spc. Diane Cammarata of Springfield, Vt., said the wave of emotion she felt seeing her family took her by surprise.  •  “Well, I cried,” Cammarata said. “I didn’t expect that one.  •  “I go to pick up (her 10-year-old sister Caithness) and the tears started coming.”  •  Cammarata’s mother, stepfather and two of her younger sisters met her at the airfield. Her third sister flew in from North Carolina later in the day.  •  A 2007 Fall Mountain Regional High School graduate who grew up in Charlestown, Cammarata was one of a handful of Monadnock Region residents who deployed with the unit.  •  Two Keene residents — Sgt. Debra S. Lukan and Staff Sgt. Joseph T. Phinney — both returned early from the deployment.  •  Lukan, a crew chief, was among the company’s first all-female medical evacuation crew in Iraq. It was her second deployment.  •  Phinney, who went home in April after injuring his back, greeted his unit at the ceremony Tuesday.  •  While undergoing physical therapy at home, Phinney had stayed in touch with his overseas comrades through e-mails and phone calls on Skype, an Internet-based program.  •  “This is all good,” he said, grinning. “Some of these guys are seeing their families for the first time in eight or nine months.  •  “I’m glad they all made it back safely.”  •  It was a sentiment echoed by N.H. Army National Guard commander Brig. Gen. Craig Bennett as he addressed the soldiers before dismissing them.  •  “Every soldier home safely with an incredible performance record in the field,” he said. “Job well done, folks.”  •  Gov. John H. Lynch expressed pride in the unit and offered to help the families with readjustment if they need it — including extending an offer to baby-sit, which he’d first made at the unit’s departure ceremony last year.  •  Before heading to Iraq last fall, the unit spent a couple months training at Fort Hood, Texas, with about 70 soldiers from the Michigan National Guard, who they would work alongside during the deployment.  •  Many of the New Hampshire soldiers in the unit who previously deployed to Iraq said the mission was the same this time around, but with U.S. troops pulling back from combat, their job was quieter.  •  It was the first deployment for Cammarata, a flight medic.  •  “It was better than I expected,” she said. “For the most part it was very quiet.”  •  She even found time to train and compete with other troops in a 26.2-mile “Boston Marathon Shadow Race” in Tallil in April, the day before the Boston race.  •  Now that she’s back in the U.S., Cammarata plans to take some time off before returning to the University of New Hampshire, where she’s studying to be a veterinarian.  •  “First, I’m going with my family to Florida,” she said. “We’ve never been to Disney.”  •  Phinney, who works full-time for the National Guard, said his back is feeling better and he’s considering signing up for another deployment.  •  “There are some groups headed out soon,” he said, “and I’ve told them that if they need me, I’m available.”  •