Families welcome home 910th from helping to stop Islamic State

VIENNA

Two-year-old Roman Speight excitedly removed and threw away the last of 120 chain links — each of which represented the number of days his father was away.

“We had a countdown and he did take one link down every day,” said Roman’s mother, Tressa Speight of Green, Ohio, referring to her son’s handling of the four months his father, Master Sgt. Justin Speight, was deployed overseas.

On Friday, though, Tressa and Roman were among the estimated 400 family members, friends and relatives who greeted more than 60 members of the 910th Airlift Wing during a homecoming gathering at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.

The reservists, who returned from a four-month deployment to a forward operations site in Southwest Asia, are assigned to the 757th Airlift Squadron and the squadrons of the 910th Maintenance Group. They also were the last of an estimated 110 citizen airmen returning from the tour of duty, which was in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Their deployment, which began May 8, included helping to halt the advance of the Islamic State, performing humanitarian-relief operations, and providing support to airlift operations to certain military installations, noted Maj. Brent J. Davis of the 910th Airlift Wing’s public-affairs office.

Read more about the touching reunion in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.