NEWPORT NEWS -- About 105 Soldiers from the 359th Inland Cargo Transfer
Company, 10th Transportation Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade returned to Fort Eustis Monday night after a 9-month deployment to Afghanistan.
'I'm really excited. I'm gonna give him all four kids, and Mommy's taking a holiday,' laughed Kenitra Flores after welcoming home her husband, Sergeant Luis Flores.
His arrival came a day before the couple's eighth wedding anniversary. He also got to see their fourth son, Javeon, in person for the first time Monday.
'He missed the birth. He missed, like, the baby stages, and he likes to be around for that,' explained Flores.
'Best feeling in the world,' the sergeant said about that father-son meeting. 'Can't believe he's so big already. I missed out on a lot. It's great.'
During their deployment, the soldiers conducted duties as a convoy escort team. Their return comes without 3 company members who were killed in Afghanistan: Staff Sergeant Justin R. Johnson, Staff Sergeant Eric T. Lawson, and Sergeant Caryn E. Nouv.
Johnson died June 18 while at the entry control point of Bagram Air Base when indirect fire hit him.
Lawson and Nouv were killed July 27 in Ghanzi Province when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device and small arms fire.
'It's kind of hard to say that I wasn't able to bring everybody home, but we were as prepared as we could be, and those losses, they were really unpreventable. They did everything right. We did everything right,' said Captain Neil Stevenson, Commanding Officer. 'Their memories are with us, living on with us, you know, it kind of gives us a little bit of comfort.'
'You know, we had two brothers and a sister not come back with us,' Sergeant Flores told 13News Now.'I love 'em. I miss 'em. I hope their families are doing okay.'
