33rd RQS, 718th AMXS Airmen return home, reunite with families

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Maeson L. Elleman
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Throughout the terminal, people stood watching the closed sliding glass doors with one common emotion - anticipation.

In a room so silent even whispers to almost seemed out of place, friends and families of deployed service members waited for their loved ones to cross the threshold after a four-month deployment to Afghanistan.

As the doors slid open, the first of roughly 50 Airmen from the 33rd Rescue Squadron and 718th Aircraft Maintenance Squadrons redeploying back to Kadena walked into the awaiting crowd now amassed with smiles and tears.

"It feels great to be back," said Staff Sgt. Mark Smith, 33rd RQS flight engineer whose wife and two daughters were waiting for him at the terminal May 20. "I just really missed being with family and playing games with my kids."

Smith was greeted by his wife, Katie, and "Welcome Home Dad" sign-wielding daughters, Gabrielle, 4, and Victoria, 11.

It was an emotion shared around the room, but it was most evident in the faces of young children who missed their parents.

"Jolly Green" feet painted on her face, Gabrielle, Smith's 4-year-old daughter said, in a few words, how much she can't wait to play hide and seek and video games with her dad.

"We're just relieved [now that he's back]," said Katie Smith. "We're excited for him to be home."