THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

The Denver Post - Thursday, May 2, 1991
Author: DENVER POST

Somewhere over Louisiana, as a Colorado Air National Guard jet carried him home to Colorado yesterday, Sgt. First Class Gerald Nuanes already was planning the rest of his day. "I am going to greet my wife and kids and be with my family, and then I'm going to take a shower - a REAL shower," he said. "And," Nuanes said jubilantly, "I'm going to eat some homemade Mexican food." The Pueblo resident was one of 23 members of the Colorado Army National Guard's 217th Medical Battalion who returned yesterday from duty in Saudi Arabia. The 217th Medical got home a little sooner than expected, thanks to the Air Guard. The soldiers were to be bused from England Air Force Base, La., to Fort Carson, said Guard spokesman Capt. Tom Schultz. The bus trip w ould have taken two or three days. Thanks to inquiries by Lt. Col. Gary Bress, permission was obtained Tuesday for the Air Guard to fly the troops home in a T-43 navigation training craft piloted by Col. John Hoffman, who had to fly a training mission an yway, Schultz said. 

Story and photos by 

Peter G. Chronis 

Denver Post Staff Writer