FORT SILL, Okla.--Soldiers of Tulsa-based B Company, 2-285th Assault Helicopter Battalion, returned home to a baby bonanza on Thursday.
"We had 10 babies born during the deployment," said Tiffany Hemmert, wife of the Bravo Company commander and Family Readiness Group leader.
Not bad for a small unit that came back with 72 soldiers.
Six of the babies made it to the homecoming ceremony at Fort Sill, including one set of twins. Jamye Henderson of Tulsa is the wife of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jay Henderson, and their twin daughters, Jenika and Julliana, were resting comfortably in a double-barreled baby stroller. Their mother said they just turned six months, and, although her husband got to see them when they were first born, this was the first time he's seen them since.
She added that he deployed in the second rotation of Operation Iraqi Freedom, so "it's kind of cool he was there near the beginning and at the end."
Maj. Gen. David D. Halverson, commanding general of Fort Sill and the Fires Center of Excellence, welcomed the Guardsmen and thanked them for a job well done.
"It's good to see four states coming together with the combat capability placed under one command team to provide warfighting capability that our Army so much needs in combat," he said.
Halverson also recognized the Oklahoma families present for their contributions.
Col. Gary D. Russell, commander of the Fort Sill Mobilization and Deployment Brigade, said the battalion made up of Guardsmen from the four states of Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Utah deployed to Iraq for one year. As part of Task Force Redhawk, it conducted full-spectrum lift and attack aviation support within the Multi-National Division - South operating environment. They also facilitated efforts to train, advise and enable the Iraqi Security Force and provincial government to achieve a sustainable security.
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