Published: November 25, 2008 12:13 am            

Finally here to stay: Soldier from the 438 Chemical Company

TERRE HAUTE — Five days ago, Braiden Hill got to see her husband, Master Sgt. David Hill, for just about an hour after he arrived in Indianapolis from Iraq.

Then the returned soldier was off to Camp Atterbury, near Edinburgh.

On Monday, Braiden Hill’s husband came home, this time to stay, after serving more than eight months of duty in Iraq and more than a year on active duty. Hill was one of four soldiers to depart a bus as it stopped at the Army National Guard facility at 3614 Maple Ave. in Terre Haute.

Hill, 35, is a member of the 438 Chemical Company and his wife, 27, is chairwoman of the 438th Chemical Company Family Readiness Group, which works with family of those deployed.

The next few days will give the couple a chance to reunite. The Hills were married in June 2007 — David with two children and Braiden with three — but before the end of the year, David was activated.

“It will be nice to have the smell of coffee back in the house again. I don’t drink coffee, but I just dug the coffee maker out yesterday and put it back on the shelf,” Braiden Hill said. “I can’t give a word to describe it,” she said of her husband’s absence.

“It has been stressful and a lot of sleepless nights. I know he took care of himself, otherwise he would have to answer to me,” she said, smiling, then giving her husband a slight push against his shoulder.

“Actually, he has kept my feet planted on the ground, just by calling me and e-mailing me,” she said.

Master Sgt. Hill said a group of 30 or 40 people paid “to have our own Internet [server], so we could Web cam about every day, unless on a mission. They had freedom phones over there and we had free phone calls. We paid so I could have the [Internet] in my room personally. We paid about $50 a month between the 30 or 40 of us.”

Sometimes Hill tried to discipline his children from overseas via the Web.

“It didn’t work at all,” Braiden Hill said, smiling. “But they are so ready for him to be home,” she said of their children. The couple planned to surprise the children of his arrival after school.

David Hill said his immediate plans were just to go home.

“Go home and just relax without having to get up and get dressed in full uniform carrying your weapon just to walk 50 feet to use the bathroom or walk a half mile to go eat,” he said. “It was most of a mile to get to our trucks; we were walking everywhere. It will be nice to have everything right here,” he said of his home.

He had been stationed at Al-Taqaddum Airbase, west of Baghdad in Iraq. He was attached to the 151st Army battalion where he did

logistical patrols.

“We provided security for convoys,” he said, mainly for fuel supplies. Going overseas was not new for David Hill, who has served in the military for nearly 17 years. He served in the U.S. Marines from 1991 to 1996 and was deployed between 2004 and 2006 in Somalia, Bosnia and Monrovia.

For Braiden Hill, Monday was almost like starting over for the couple.

“When I went to Indianapolis, it was almost like a first date again. I was so nervous,” she said. “This is going to be like starting over for us, but it is just so nice to have him home.”

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com

        

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