Coming Home Never Felt So Good

Mary Fisher says her life has been a nightmare since her son left for Kuwait 14 months ago.

But Wednesday’s reunion with Sgt. Christian Morrish, 24, brought tears of happiness as she watched her son and 41 other Army reservists step off two buses at the Irvine-Tustin U.S. Army Reserve Center.

The soldiers of the 163rd Ordnance Company 2nd Platoon were home, and families were finally breathing sighs of relief.

As Morrish greeted his mother, he put his head on her shoulder, cried and held on tight. “I’m overwhelmed. This is great,” he said. “I’m glad to be home.”

A screaming crowd of 150 were on hand to welcome the soldiers, about 20 of them were relatives awaiting Staff Sgt. Joe Domingo of Whittier.

“He thinks I’m here by myself,” said wife Lucy. “I came with a little bit of family,” she said laughing.

“I miss him,” said Joseph Jr., 9. “He takes me to Disneyland, takes me camping and fishing.” But what he missed most, he said, were his father’s bear hugs.

Lucy Domingo said her husband’s return was the greatest relief. “You mourn for a long time,” she said about soldiers leaving for war. “You don’t want to go on. You think it’s the end of the world.”

The two have been married for 11 years, but they couldn’t spend their 10th or 11th anniversaries together, she said. “That one year we’ve missed,” she said, “I don’t know to count it.”

Joe Domingo said that if there hadn’t been cameras around, he would have kissed the ground. Kuwait was “hot, dusty, miserable.” It’s hard for the troops to withstand the 100-plus-degree heat and sandstorms, he said.

But Domingo was grateful that his worst experience was suffering a scorpion sting. Friends, he said, dubbed him the “Scorpion King.”

Morrish, however, came under gunfire with the rest of his camp on his 24th birthday in November, said cousin Molly Kilian. The camp escaped casualties, she said.

“He got used to it,” said friend Nikki Martin, “but he’s been ready to come home for a while.”

That’s a common sentiment for the troops in Kuwait, said Sgt. April Villanueva, who turned 24 this month. “Everyone wants to come home,” the Cal State Fullerton senior said. “It’s really hectic out there.”

Because the platoon’s deployment had been extended, the soldiers came home for two weeks last year. Learning that they’d be spending more time in the “Kuwait Krud” was disappointing, Villanueva said.

“Our morale was down,” she said when their deployment was extended. Troops still in the Middle East are disgruntled that they are going to have to stay longer too, she said.

The soldiers said they are prepared to leave again should their platoon be redeployed.

“I gotta do what I gotta do,” Morrish said. “I’d do it again if I get a homecoming like this.”

For now, the soldiers are going to enjoy the simple things in life:

“I missed skateboarding; I missed surfing like no tomorrow,” Morrish said.

“Going to the bathroom without a group” and using a real shower, Domingo said. “For 10 months, I’ve taken water-bottle showers.”