Tears, cheers as soldiers return home in Aurora

"Hello little man. Nice to meet you. I love you."

Two-week-old Ryley Harris Soloff likely won't remember those words.

His father, Benjamin Soloff, likely will never forget them.

Soloff, a Sandwich resident, was one of 27 members of the Illinois Army National Guard 106th Cavalry Squadron to return home Friday to the armory at East Aurora High School along Tomcat Lane after spending between eight months and a year in Afghanistan.

Soloff was welcomed home by Ryley, his wife Brittany and several family members.

"This is just awesome," he said, tears running down his cheek as he held his camouflaged diaper-wearing son for the first time. "This guy's next-generation Army."

While in Kabul, Charlie Troop 2-106th Cavalry soldiers were members of three police mentor teams that trained the Afghan National Army and Police. They also were charged with conducting patrols and security missions.

After traveling from Kabul to Kuwait and finally to Fort McCoy in west central Wisconsin, the first wave of about 80 troops arrived at Tomcat Stadium.

Police officers from Aurora and North Aurora, along with a motorcycle motorcade, escorted the soldiers' bus to the school after exiting the Reagan Memorial Tollway at Route 31. The city of Aurora lined the route with American flags as a sign of thanks and to welcome the soldiers home.

Sgt. First Class David Ziolkowski, of Bolingbrook also had some special people waiting for him, including his wife Joanna, parents Fran and Ed, and a 2-foot tall Styrofoam cutout of himself, posing as he was deployed last year for the fourth time.

"We've taken him (the cutout) everywhere, from restaurants, birthday parties, vacations and even to open Christmas presents," Fran Ziolkowski said. "We never left him out of anything and we sent photos to him showing him where he's been."

Ziolkowski's mother-in-law, Anna Schultz, also had a cutout just to make sure he didn't miss an event.

Of the places his cutout had been, what was Ziolkowski's favorite?

"The restaurants as long as they didn't serve goat meat," he joked. "I loved that they sent those photos. It helped keep the mood light and kept me up on what they were doing."

Not everyone had a huge throng waiting for them. David Reuter of Glen Ellyn had only his wife, Sue, and that was all he needed.

"I don't really know what to say. I'm very happy to be back home and with my wife," he said as she tearily clung to his arm. "I'm just going to spend some long overdue quality time with my wife and enjoy being with her."

A much larger, more formal welcome home party will be scheduled in December after the remaining two-thirds of the squadron returns.