News Article

Sun Photos by Phil Gentry - In the top photo, Sgt. Sid Barkley, walking on crutches due to a knee injury suffered in Iraq, enters the Tri-Cities Regional Airport terminal on Friday afternoon shortly after his connecting flight from Atlanta arrived. In the lower photo, Barkley is hugged by his wife, Sherry; son, Tanner; and daughter, Madison, seconds after entering the terminal. Barkley, who along with fellow Greene County resident Spc. Jeremy Bonds and four other Tennessee Army National Guardsmen who have been serving with the 278th Regimental Combat Team in Iraq since December, returned home on leave Friday.

By: BILL JONES/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun
02-19-2005

BLOUNTVILLE — Two Greene County residents were among five 278th Regimental Combat Team soldiers on leave from Iraq who returned to Tri-Cities Regional Airport here on Friday afternoon.

Sgt. Sid Barkley and Spc. Jeremy Bonds, both of Greene County, were greeted by members of their families and friends inside the airport terminal shortly after their flight from Atlanta touched down about 4:20 p.m.

The soldiers’ arrival ended what had been a virtual day-long wait at the airport for some members of their families, and it ended a three-month absence for the soldiers.

Sgt. Barkley’s wife, Sherry, said she, the couple’s children, other family members and friends arrived at the airport on Friday morning believing that Sgt. Barkley would arrive on an 11:34 a.m. flight from Atlanta.

"I spoke to him about 9 a.m. after his plane landed in Maine to refuel," she said late Friday morning as she and other family members and friends waited, expectantly, for passengers from the Atlanta flight to enter the terminal.

But when the passengers entered the terminal, the Barkley family discovered that Sid was not among them.

Sherry Barkley said she later learned that Sid’s flight from Bangor, Maine, to Atlanta, where he had been scheduled to catch the connecting flight to Tri-Cities Regional Airport, had been delayed.

She said that after her husband reached Atlanta at mid-day, he initially was told that he likely would not be able to reach Tri-Cities Regional until about 7:30 p.m.

Sherry said family members and friends ate lunch and had begun a return trip to Greene County in early afternoon when she received a call from Sid on her cellular telephone. He told her that he had managed to catch an earlier flight that would reach Tri-Cities Regional Airport at about 3:45 p.m.

The group then returned to the airport to await the arrival of the second flight, she said.

Arrival

At mid-afternoon, Sherry said, she learned that the arrival of Sid’s flight had been delayed until shortly after 4 p.m.

She, the couple’s son, Tanner; daughter, Madison; and a group of family members and friends that included Sid’s brother, Richard; Sherry’s sister, Lisa; and Sherry’s parents then moved to the airport’s observation deck to watch for the airplane carrying Sid and other soldiers from the Army National Guard’s 278th Regimental Combat Team.

At about 4:20 p.m. Friday, the twin-engined turbo-prop Delta Connection aircraft landed and taxied to a stop outside the airport terminal.

Sid Barkley’s family and friends lined the observation deck railing and focused intently on the airplane as passengers began to deplane.

After several minutes, a tall figure wearing a desert camouflage uniform slowly descended the aircraft’s rear stairs using a pair of crutches to support his weight.

As family members and friends shouted and waved, the tall, hatless figure looked upward and waved in response.

Barkley’s family members and friends then reentered the terminal to await his arrival.

A Long Hug

A short time later, passengers who had arrived aboard Flight 4132 began to enter the terminal from the concourse. A tall, camouflage-clad figure, using a pair of aluminum crutches for support, slowly approached the terminal lobby among the throng of arriving passengers.

When Sgt. Sid Barkley entered the terminal lobby at last, his wife and two children ran forward to hug him as other passengers who had been behind him paused to watch.

For long moments, Barkley, his wife and children, remained frozen in a hug just inside the terminal lobby.

They then moved forward to join friends and other family members who had stood a short distance from the concourse entrance to the lobby.

After Barkley entered the terminal, four other 278th RCT citizen-soldiers, including Spc. Jeremy Bonds, of Greene County, entered the terminal as well.

On hand to welcome Bonds were his wife, Ashley, his grandfather, B.C. Lopez, and other members of his family.

Spc. Bonds and his family moved quickly through the airport and departed.

Another 278th soldier welcomed home on Friday afternoon was Sgt. Anthony Wyatt, who lives in Washington County’s Boones Creek community.

His wife, children, father-in-law and other family members greeted him as he entered the lobby as well.

Iraq Elections 'Went Great'

After Sgt. Barkley spent a few minutes with his family and friends, he spoke briefly with a Greeneville Sun reporter.

"I’ve been waiting on this for three days," said Barkley, who appeared tired but obviously happy.

He noted that he left Kuwait on Wednesday, reached Germany on Thursday, and arrived in Maine this morning.

"It’s really good to be home," he said.

Barkley said he was scheduled for a two-week leave that might be extended depending on the result of medical tests on his right knee, which began giving him problems during the rigors of duty that led up to the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections.

"If it requires surgery and rehabilitation, it will be up to the Army whether I go back to Iraq or maybe just do duty in Kuwait," he said.

Asked what happened to his knee, Sgt. Barkley said, "We were out on a four-day mission before the election, and just the constant wear and tear apparently got to me."

Barkley said he had been assigned as a gunner on a military wrecker that retrieved and towed HUMVEES and other military vehicles that suffer mechanical breakdowns.

"It’s a pretty rough ride," he said.

Barkley said the Iraqi elections "went great, and we thank the Good Lord for that."

He noted that he feels things are beginning to settle down in his unit’s area of operations in the wake of the elections.

Both Voice Thankfulness

Sgt. Barkley said his unit of the 278th RCT’s Second Squadron left Kuwait on Dec. 7 and arrived at Forward Operating Base Bernstein in northeastern Iraq on Dec. 10.

During that journey, he said, the unit escaped being attacked by insurgent forces.

"We thank the Good Lord for that," he said.

At Forward Operating Base Bernstein, he said, the 278th’s Second Squadron replaced a North Carolina National Guard unit. "They showed a few things," he said.

Asked how it felt to have her husband home, Sherry Barkley said she had been left speechless.

"I just thank the Lord that he’s back," she added.

Story Copyright to Greene County Online/Greeneville Sun