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No bands, flags or crowds waited in the Eppley Airfield terminal to welcome Lt. Cmdr. Adam Carlstrom back to the United States.
Instead, the Iowa-born Navy aviator who spent his last 270 days on land in Iraq was greeted by his wife, Deanie, his two daughters and a few friends.
On the night before Thanksgiving, it was the perfect way to come home.
“I've been thinking about this minute for months,” he said.
The Carlstroms moved to Papillion last year after about 10 years in Oak Harbor, Wash. Carlstrom left for Basra in February, his second deployment to Iraq since the U.S.-led campaign began in 2003.
He met Deanie while they attended Miami University in Ohio, and they've been married for 10 years.
Deanie got a rough introduction to life as a military spouse. She headed to Washington soon after the couple married, but her husband suddenly was called to serve a rotation in Italy days after her arrival.
Deanie was left behind. The couple hadn't even gone on their honeymoon.
She learned to adapt to her “forced independence” and did her best to keep busy and endure her husband's frequent absences. The couple's daughters — Madelyn, 8, and Sophia, 4 — soon came along, and Carlstrom's deployments to foreign bases and aircraft carriers became a fact of life.
His first Iraq tour went smoothly, and he decided to volunteer for a second mission. He'd have his choice of assignments upon his return, so he decided to return to the Midwest and take a position at Offutt Air Force Base.
For his second tour, he volunteered to work with the Army National Guard's 34th Infantry Division, where he used his skills in electronic warfare to manage the division's vehicle-borne anti-IED equipment, used to detect roadside bombs. The Army has relied on the Navy and Air Force to provide support with electronic warfare, and part of his job was to advise the Army on how to take over that responsibility.
Nine months later, it was time to come home.
A crowd began to gather by the exit to Eppley's B Terminal, as people waited to greet their own holiday travelers. They gradually noticed the 4-year-old in the pink jammies, the 8-year-old with a case of the giggles and the red-and-blue acrylic stars affixed with Carlstrom's picture.
“My daddy is gonna come in his Army suit,” Sophia whispered.
Her dad strode from the terminal and seemed to spot his family right away. Deanie, however, was distracted and didn't see her husband until he was only a few feet away.
The crowd was watching, though, and applauded as Carlstrom hoisted his 4-year-old into his arms for the first time in months.
After months in Iraq the 37-year-old was back in a place where he didn't have to watch his daughters grow up via webcam.
There wasn't much time to let the homecoming sink in. The family returned to their home and started packing for the Thanksgiving Day drive to Des Moines.
Carlstrom's father was waiting there. He didn't know his son was coming to surprise him.
“It was a very tearful reception,” Carlstrom said Thursday.
He was awed by the sight of green grass and amber cornfields along Interstate 80. He ate turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes inside a house packed with family and friends.
It was perfect.
“I've been smiling all day,” he said.
Contact the writer:
444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com
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