Home just in time

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Laura Goodgame
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
January 17, 2012 --  Staff Sgt. Ron Reyome, 509th Logistic Readiness Squadron supply technician, returned to this Air Force Global Strike Command base from his six-month deployment to Iraq Christmas 2011. Reyome operated as the NCO in charge of flight service center and reviewing section.

At the start of 2011, logistic experts calculated there were nearly 3 million pieces of equipment to be moved, from airplanes, helicopters and tanks to laptops and lights. Reyome assisted in the manifesting and shipping of U.S. owned equipment and supplies during the troop withdrawal ending the nearly nine year war in Iraq.
"For months, it was my job to keep a steady stream of gear moving out of the country while keeping an itemized tracking list that we were transporting gear to the right bases," said Reyome.

Closing down the Iraq war has meant shutting down the U.S. military bases, which numbered 505 at the peak of the war and included everything from small desert fueling depots to massive installations where Americans have been entrenched for years.
"It has been eight years since I have spent Christmas with my family," said Reyome.
Without his family in Bangor, N.Y., knowing, Reyome had been able to make it home a week before Christmas and surprise his parents Christmas morning and showed up at their doorstep. His family was not expecting him home until New Year's.

"I was trying to keep my plans for surprising my family a secret by not telling anyone I was coming home and avoiding Facebook as much as possible," said Reyome. "I wanted them to be completely overwhelmed with joy."

"I drove the 1,200 mile trip home with only my father, Ron, gaining a sneaking suspicion but not certain of when I might be home," said Reyome. "When I showed up my mother and sister started crying with tears of happiness. My entire family was so shocked to see me. It was definitely the most rewarding holiday I have spent since joining the military eight years ago."

"It feels good to have served my country at the beginning of the Iraq war and seen it through to the end," he said. "I know that this is not the end of the U.S. conflicts in the Middle East, but it is good to have my brothers and sisters in arms home from one less war. I will continue to serve proudly alongside them and go where my country needs me."