Returning National Guardsmen honored at Newton Falls church

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

NEWTON FALLS

Spending a year in Afghanistan taught Ohio National Guardsman Richard Matulja about a very different type of country and way of life from his own.

“I think the biggest thing is seeing how the people of [Afghanistan] live and how fortunate we are in the United States,” said Matulja, a New Waterford native who graduated from Crestview High School in 2001.

Matulja, who lives in Oberlin now, was among 14 guardsmen honored at First Church of God in Newton Falls on Friday as their unit, the 290th Engineer Detachment based at Camp Ravenna on state Route 5 just north of Newton Falls, came home.

Matulja looked around at the grass, trees and comfortable fall weather at the church and pointed out how different things were over the past year.

“You look around and see grass and trees, and you just don’t have those there — it’s sand and mountains. If you have a cold, you can’t just run to the pharmacy. Many of the people don’t have a car. That’s a status symbol. It’s impoverished,” he said.

Staff Sgt. Kyle Flynn of Cincinnati said the places where the unit went to build military bases and provide other engineering support were typically “in the middle of nowhere.”

But Flynn said he interacted with the people of Afghanistan a lot more than he did when he was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2006.

“I felt like they appreciated us being there,” Flynn said.

Flynn said something else that was different was the improvement in technology that allowed him to watch videos of his nieces participating in school plays and communicate by video with his fiancee.

Flynn’s father, his fiance’s mother and father, his sisters and nieces were all in attendance for the coming-home celebration and took pictures in front of the church to mark his return.

Flynn said he would be returning to Cincinnati to continue his college education with plans to be a teacher and high school football coach.

Frank Amato, chief warrant officer for the 290th, said Afghanistan is a place of extreme weather conditions — below-zero temperatures and 2 feet of snow in winter and 100-plus temperatures in summer — with a very short spring and fall.

“Being in Afghanistan gives you an appreciation for what we have here — sitting on the porch or going up to the corner for a cheeseburger,” he said.

“Our families made a lot of sacrifices while we were gone,” Amato said during prepared remarks in the church.

“For the most part, we focused on our mission, but at home you see a pair of sneakers and you’re missing that loved one.”

Brig. Gen. John Harris, commander of the Ohio Army National Guard, praised the 290th for the 33 military awards its members earned. He also thanked the families of the soldiers and employers who got along without their soldier for a year.

“You’ve accrued a credential that very few people will understand,” he told the soldiers. “Everybody’s going to want to know how it was, and you’re going to think to yourself, ‘I just did my job,’ but you are a hero. By doing your job you made the world a better place.”