Nellis”Jolly Greens’ home from Iraq

Seventy-one airmen from the 66th Rescue Squadron and its support team marked the end of the Iraq War with a homecoming Wednesday night, arriving to the open arms of family and friends in a hangar at Nellis Air Force Base.

"It’s almost like Christmas, coming home every time. I really missed my family," Pave Hawk helicopter pilot Capt. Ben Buchta said after hugs and kisses from his wife, Camilla, and daughters, Ismylah , 2, and Ellianna , 4, of Las Vegas.

"I honestly thought I would probably be out of the Air Force before we’d be out of Iraq. I thought I’d never see us getting out of Iraq. I was really excited to be a part of that," Buchta said after landing on Nevada soil in a commercial flight from Baltimore on the last leg of the journey.

During the last deployment, which lasted four to eight months for most of the airmen, Buchta said he just tried to stay focused.

"It maintains your battle rhythm. Every day you get into the routine and kind of get through all the motions. You take one day at a time so you can stay focused and remain safe," he said.

After their first deployment nine years ago during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the 66th "Jolly Greens" from Nellis and five operational squadrons saved 144 lives of U.S. and coalition troops and Iraqi citizens, said Lt. Col. Dan Duffy, the unit’s commander.

"I’m just ecstatic that we’re able to bring our crews back to their loved ones," Duffy said, noting that the 66th still has operations going on in Afghanistan.

They know that danger lurks every time they go on a mission, and the one in Afghanistan was no exception, something that was "certainly on our minds" Wednesday night, the commander said.

Duffy, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was close friends with Capt. David A. Wisniewski, the 31-year-old Nellis Air Force Base pilot from western Iowa who died from injuries July 2, 2010. That was more than three weeks after his Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in a hail of rocket-propelled grenade fire while trying to rescue soldiers in Afghanistan.

"He was a top 10 percent guy, a weapons officer, and he had only a week to go," Duffy said.

Two other Nellis airmen were killed in the crash: 1st Lt. Joel C. Gentz, 25, of Grass Lake, Mich., and Staff Sgt. David C. Smith, 26, of Eight Mile, Ala.

"They made the ultimate sacrifice," Duffy said. "Our motto is, ‘These things we do that others may live.’  "

For Airman 1st Class Denise Figueroa-Guarneros, being in Iraq with the team’s maintenance squadron "was a big change and an honor."

Her father, Miguel Figueroa, was in tears at seeing her. He said he prayed every day for her safety.

Allison Bechtel, 24, waited patiently for her husband, Senior Airman Matthew Bechtel, to arrive while their daughter, 5-year-old Kelly, anxiously twirled across the hangar floor before running to see her dad get off the bus.

Matthew Bechtel’s mother, retired 1st Sgt. Susan Bechtel, traveled from Fort Carson, Colo., to surprise her son.

"He went to some of the same places I went through in 1993 in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield," she said.

Alyssa Castillo said she was "relieved" that the plane had landed as she waited for Senior Airman Magdiel Castillo, a crew chief with the 763rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

During his deployment, she had her hands full with their sons, Jaiden, 2, and Darien, 1.

"It has its days," she said, adding that with his job, he most likely will be deployed again, but not to Iraq.

Most of Nevada’s war dead in the post-9/11 wars — 48 of 78 — have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The last to die in the Iraq War with ties to Nevada was Army Pfc. Thomas F. Lyons of Fernley, on Sept. 8, 2009.

Said Buchta, the rescue pilot: "We recognize the danger that comes with the job."

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.