By RORYE O’CONNOR
rorye.oconnor@register-news.com
MT. VERNON —
Family and friends welcomed Air Force Capt. Curtis Puckett home from a year long deployment in Qatar with a reception and parade Friday evening.
Puckett, a 21-year veteran, said he was genuinely surprised by the reception organized by his wife and Jefferson County Operation Iraqi Freedom at the Drury Inn.
“Normally (my wife) doesn’t get one past me,” he said. “This time, she did.”
Curtis Puckett embraced his children Taylor, Ryan and Madison and other members of his family when he got out of the minivan that had brought him to the hotel after the 18-and-a-half hour flight back to Illinois. His eldest daughter, Tabitha, was unable to attend because she is studying at Southern Illinois University, said Monica Puckett, Curtis’ wife.
“It feels good (to be home),” he said. “It feels a little surreal, like it’s not happening yet. Sometimes when you fly for a long time, it’s like you don’t feel like you’re here until about the next morning.”
Monica Puckett said though it had been a long day, she was very excited to see her husband home again. The Puckett family doesn’t have a lot of time to visit, as three days from now he has to travel to Louisiana to begin training, and in August, the family is moving to the Netherlands.
“It’s been overwhelming with moving and trying to get organized,” Monica Puckett said.
The Air Force veteran and several members of his family got to ride in a Mt. Vernon Fire Department fire truck as a Mt. Vernon Police Department and MVFD escort led a small parade of cars around the King City.
After the parade returned, Curtis Puckett’s cousin, Amanda Sheridan, sang two songs, including the Star Spangled Banner, and Puckett spoke to his gathered family and friends.
“I don’t have too much to say, and I’m not singing,” he joked, as a song came on the speaker system. “I’m glad to be here, to see my kids. A year is a long time. My kids have grown — Taylor’s almost as tall as me.
“I don’t feel like I’m worthy of this, but it means a lot to me that you appreciate the work I do. I have missed the Fourth of July three times. Hopefully, next year I won’t miss it. When you’re deployed, you don’t see holidays. You don’t see weekends. You just work. You don’t get to celebrate your kids’ birthdays; you just work.”
He urged others to write and correspond with the deployed soldiers in their lives, because “it means a lot.”
Puckett’s sister, Nikki Zedalis of Opdyke, said she had been able to keep in touch with her brother over his deployment with Skype and other online programs.
“It’s gotten easier,” she said.
In addition to the police and fire escort, Puckett’s parade included an escort from Randy Smith, a Vietnam veteran and volunteer with the Patriot Guard Riders of Southern Illinois.
Those who are interested in having a homecoming event for a deployed Jefferson County soldier may call JCOIF chairman Joyce Poorman at 735-2521 or co-chair David Keen at 214-0054.
