Home for the holidays

Local National Guard soldiers of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment returned home early Tuesday to spend time with families during the holiday period before returning to Camp Shelby, Miss., in preparation for deployment to Iraq.

Mobilization orders for the 278th were received in July and members of the unit from all over Tennessee left for Camp Shelby the first weekend of December.

After it was learned that the military would allow the soldiers to return for the holidays, the Bedford County Board of Commissioners voted in November to contribute over $3,000 for bus rental so that the local guardsmen could spend the holidays with their families this year.

What local men and women of the 278th didn't expect was dozens of toys awaiting them.

Operation Homefront and the Shelbyville Dollar Tree store teamed up to collect toys to give out to members of the 278th for their children.

Operation Homefront takes monetary donations collected at Dollar Tree and exchanges the money for toys to be delivered to military installations and given to the children of military dependents. Dollar Tree is a major sponsor of the program across the United States.

"This was my first year being involved in the program and it was good to see the donations accepted going straight back to local military personnel and their families to help augment their Christmas needs," said Mark Welsh, volunteer for Operation Homefront. "I want to thank the people of Shelbyville for their donations and especially Dollar Tree manager, Connie Serena, and her staff for collecting the toys."

The local troops were scheduled to reach the Shelbyville National Guard Amory at 7 a.m. Tuesday, but for security purposes the group arrived hours earlier than scheduled.

Larry Bivens of the Shelbyville Armory explained that nobody knew the time scheduled had changed until moments before the bus carrying the troops arrived.

"We weren't expecting them to get home this early," said Bivens.

According to one wife, she and the other families also had no idea that their loved ones would be home so early.

While plans had been changed, that didn't stop wives, husbands, and children from celebrating the soldiers' return and enjoying browsing through toys offered for their families at the armory.