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For Oklahoma troops and families, a happy homecoming
BRYAN DEAN and RON JACKSON
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Published: August 11, 2009
Oklahoman
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Donna Lankford had a tough decision to make Monday morning.
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Welcome-home ceremonies will continue this week as members of the 45th Fires Brigade arrive in the state from Fort Hood, Texas. Following are times and locations:
• 2 p.m. today, Enid High School football stadium.
• Noon Wednesday, Duncan High School football stadium.
• Noon Wednesday, Great Plains Coliseum in Lawton.
• 1 p.m. Wednesday, Randlett Park in Anadarko.
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Her two sons were returning from Iraq after a yearlong deployment with the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Fires Brigade. Lankford’s problem: One of her sons was in a group that returned to Altus, and the other was returning to Weatherford.
More than 800 soldiers are returning from Iraq and Kuwait to the state this week. A series of welcome home ceremonies began Monday with about 225 guardsmen split into two groups — one recognized at Altus High School and the other at a ceremony at the Wellness Center on the Southwestern Oklahoma State University campus in Weatherford.
Lankford, of Hobart, ultimately decided to go to Weatherford to meet her son, Spc. Dusty Lankford.
She said her other son is married and had his wife to greet him. Donna Lankford also has a son-in-law serving in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps.
"It triples the stress,” she said. "It’s very nerve-wracking. You never know what’s happening when the phone rings.”
Dusty Lankford said he has trouble coming up with the words to describe what it’s like being home.
The soldiers first returned to Fort Hood, Texas, before taking buses back to Oklahoma.
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