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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Briggs: ‘I Told You I’d Be Back’

The dust of Iraq still clung to the items crammed inside Spc. Blythe Briggs’ rucksack when she landed thousands of miles away in chilly Spokane. “I feel bad for her,” her brother, Austin Briggs, 20, said before she deplaned at Spokane International Airport late Friday. “She’s going to have climate shock.” Briggs, a 25-year-old Army medic with the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, of Fort Hood, Texas, was among the last American soldiers to leave Iraq as the nearly 9-year-old war came to a close. When she arrived in Spokane, she exchanged a tight embrace with her mother, Ruth Briggs. “I’m back,” she told her mother as the two hugged. “I told you I’d make it”/Chelsea Bannach, SR. More here. (SR photo)

DFO: My niece "Hannah Banana" (family nickname) is staying in Post Falls for a couple of weeks with her parents after finishing her second tour of duty in the Mideast (Afghanistan & Iraq). Army Reserve Capt. Hannah Banana gave her parents, grandmother, & brother flags that had flown on Blackhawk helicopters in those war zones for Christmas. It was great to watch them open those wonderful gifts. It was greater still to have her back and in one piece. Best. Christmas. Present. Of all.

Question: Have you had a friend of loved one who recently returned from a tour of duty in either Iraq or Afghanistan?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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