Nevada Army National Guard unit returns from deployment

David Kihara

Thursday, March 17, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

When her husband, Sgt. Ragnar Jamieson of the Nevada Army National Guard, stepped off a bus and into her arms Wednesday, Fiona Jamieson breathed a sigh of relief that she had been holding for more than a year.

Sgt. Jamieson and 21 other troops with the National Guard's 440th Signal Company returned to Southern Nevada after a 15-plus month deployment to Kuwait, Iraq and Southwest Asia. More than 50 friends, family and comrades greeted the returning soldiers at the Clark County Armory near Nellis Air Force Base.

More than 80 National Guard troops with the 321st Signal Company also returned to Reno on Wednesday and were greeted by friends and family at the Washoe County Armory.

The National Guard unit that returned to Las Vegas was attached to the Reno unit, and all volunteered to go overseas.

The Nevada Army National Guard still has an additional 650 soldiers deployed outside the state.

"After 15 months I can finally exhale," she said after seeing her husband. Like many well-wishers who were waiting at the armory in Clark County to see loved ones, she was carrying a sign greeting the troops home. Her sign read "Welcome Home Sgt. Jamieson."

"I am proud of him and what he has done, but the deployments are too long," she said. "(The officials in Washington) really need to think about what they are doing to families because it's a very difficult situation. It is tearing families apart"

Sgt. Jamieson, meanwhile, said he was merely relived to be home with his wife.

"The most important thing is coming home in one piece," he said.

That was Sgt. Edward Franco's take as well.

A graduate of Green Valley High School, embraced his 7-year-old daughter Serina after he stepped off the bus.

"Everyone thinks the deployment was too long, but you got to do what you got to do," he said.

"I'm most proud of completing the mission and the camaraderie I've made with my friends," he said, who added he would be returning to his post at the National Guard Armory in Las Vegas.

Fiona Jamieson said the first thing she was going to do was cook her husband a dinner and celebrate the previous Christmas. She kept a plastic Christmas tree with wrapped presents underneath in their residence since December in anticipation of his return.

"I wanted him to have a family Christmas," she said.

The Nevada National Guard units that returned on Wednesday were primarily responsible for maintaining and operating communications. The units spent most of their time abroad in Kuwait, but also were stationed in Iraq briefly.

Another National Guard soldier who returned, 20-year-old Spc. Christina Johnson, said the 440th Signal Company came under fire during a few missions in Iraq. But for the most part, she said, the 15-month deployment went off without a hitch.

She said one of the first things she wanted to do was go eat at Hamburger Hut 'N' Market.

"The food (overseas) was horrible," she said, adding that for the first few weeks soldiers avoided the food because they were afraid they would become ill.

Johnson was greeted at the Armory by her father, Dwayne, mother, Doreen, and younger sister Chaena.

"The hardest part was watching the news at night," Dwayne Johnson said. "We wanted to stay informed, but I was scared I would see my daughter's name" among the names of soldiers killed in Iraq.

More than 1,500 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the War in Iraq in March 2003. Since fighting began in Afghanistan in late 2001, 12 soldiers with connections to Nevada have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait. More than 11,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded in the conflict.

The exact number of Iraqi casualties is not yet known, but some estimates place the number as high as 16,000.