As a Vietnam vet, I want to know why it was not made public that Westfield troops were coming into the airport. During the first part of this war we were all invited, everybody, to welcome the soldier’s home at Westover and the general in charge made it very plain we were all welcome. Why was it such a secret only for a select few? We, as Vietnam vets never enjoyed this, but we would like to bring these guys home with a lot more than we received. So let’s make these returns public. The 104th Fighter Wing, Barnes Air National Guard Base responded: First, we thank the local community for tremendous support of our airmen at the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base. We are so fortunate and grateful to have such incredible support from our community and people like you. Unfortunately, due to our improved security posture, our ability to welcome the public to the base is different from what was typical pre-9/11. The 104th Fighter Wing deployed over 350 members in 2011-2012, to places throughout the world. These deployments were in addition to our current 24/7 mission to protect the Northeast corridor of the United States. For our deployers, we annually host a Hometown Heroes event. To this event, we invite media, family and friends and we recognize all our members who deployed over the last year. We present members with awards for heroism and extraordinary performance and we thank their families. The large majority of our members returned from our recent deployment last week, with a few more returning Friday.
