National Guard Welcomed Home in Bay Shore, New York

Bay Shore, New York -- Fire trucks with lights flashing and sirens blasting were parked in front of the armory. An American flag hung from a connector between the two trucks. As they waiting for the bus carting the brigade members to arrive, family and friends of the team lined the walls of the armory with their cameras at the ready and homemade banners welcoming their soldier's home clutched in their hands.

After a nearly year-long stint in Afghanistan, the twenty-seventh Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the New York Army National Guard returned to Bay Shore, where friends and family welcomed them at the armory.

This team was sent as part of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan with the mission to mentor and train the Afghan National Army and Police and provide assistance to the government of Afghanistan and its people in January 2008. 1,700 soldiers were called up for the mission.

The Bay Shore American Legion was there to welcome those returning home, "We support them 100 percent," Past Commander Ken D'Maia said of the men who needed to hold meetings at the legion several times, "They do the business of America."

As many of the brigade members have young children who are growing everyday, being home, even if only to be deployed again, is of utmost importance. Raymond and Madelyn D'Agostino of Ronkonkoma could not wait for their son, Steven, to come home, and neither could Steven's wife, Tricia, and his two children, Emma, 5-years-old, and Thomas, 1-year-old.

Madelyn D'Agostino noted her son had gone to Kuwait with the marines in 1991, "We were younger then," she joked, "We're just so glad he will be where he belongs, with his family," she said.

Debbie and Al Dieumegard, were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their son, as Sergeant Dieumegard's fiancé, Jackie, was too. This was the third time he was deployed, Debbie Dieumegard noted, and said "We're excited he's going to be home. Al Dieumegard added to his wife's statement, "And just knowing he's safe."

Sergeant John Wallis, a Bay Shore resident, was ecstatic to see his children upon his return home; his kids felt the same way about reuniting with their father, "It feels better now that he's back," Wallis' daughter Kristen said, "I missed him."

Wallis, who said this was his first combat trip, but he is "more than likely" to be deployed again, noted he was happy to be home, "It feels great, it is indescribable," he said about returning to Long Island, "It was overwhelming, (to see his family) I fell apart."