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Jul 25, 2008 6:00 pm US/Central
Over 200 Minn. Guard Troops Return From Iraq
(WCCO)
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"The smell of fresh air and grass and trees, it's amazing being home. All your senses just pick up on everything," said Katherine Tykwinski.
CBS
Some Minnesota National Guard soldiers are back home in Minnesota after spending over a year in Iraq.
More than 200 members of the 2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment arrived at the Minnesota National Guard headquarters Friday afternoon. Their families greeted them with a hero's welcome.
Lots of clapping and flag waving welcomed members of the assault helicopter battalion. A motorcycle escort led the bus loaded with soldiers.
It's been almost a year since some of the soldiers have seen their loved ones.
Specialist Katherine Tykwinski had a big job to do in Iraq.
"I'm an avionics mechanic. I work on Blackhawk helicopters," she said. "I wanted to go into aviation and I found a job that works well with what I like to do."
There were two all-female Blackhawk crews, ranging from flying the choppers to fueling them up.
"We had five females in our company that were actively working on them," added Tykwinski. "We have a lot of fun doing it."
While Tykwinski was working on helicopters, her family back home worried a lot about her safety.
"There was some incidences where they had some mortars come in and stuff, and it was potentially life ending. So that was scary," said her dad, David Tykwinski. "She did a real good job over there and it was, it's nice to get her home safe."
Tykwinski said she missed her home state of Minnesota.
"The smell of fresh air and grass and trees, it's amazing being home. All your senses just pick up on everything," she said.
The unit flew more than 18,000 combat flights and transported more than 77,000 passengers.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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