Troops pick up their Patriots and leave now that threat is lifted

JERUSALEM -- Hoisting Israeli and U.S. flags, American support troops and Patriot-2 missile operators marked the end of their stay with a Sunday morning ceremony at Tel Yona Air Force Base in Rishon le-Zion.

Seven Patriot-2 batteries lined up for their next port of call, no longer scouring the skies for incoming Iraqi Scuds. A four-month-long mission has come to a close.

Late last December, some 700 hundred U.S. soldiers, marines, and sailors arrived to take part in a joint ballistic missile defense exercise called "Juniper Cobra."

In a test of the compatibility of the two nations' military hardware, U.S. Patriot-2 batteries were plugged into a two-tiered defense network that included the longer-range Arrow-2 missiles and the naval-based Aegis radar.

After the completion of the exercise, U.S. forces stayed on during the Iraq crisis. They manned Patriot batteries in Haifa, Safed, and the greater Tel Aviv area.

But now that the threat of Iraqi Scuds has passed, the U.S. troops will be leaving.

At a press conference that preceded the redeployment ceremony, Brig.-Gen. Yair Dori, head of the Israel Defense Force's air forces, congratulated his officers for not letting uneventful routine erode their level of preparedness.

"We've come out of this better trained," he said. "While we have our own operational air defense system... it is always good to have a joint system with other countries."

Maj.-Gen. Stanley Green, the American joint task force commander, said he was pleased by the operation, adding that the next step will be to analyze "what we liked about the Israeli two-tiered system and what we would like to improve upon."

As for the troops, they were clearly eager to get back to their families. For four months, they lived in tent encampments, had little chance to see the rest of the country, and worked shifts that allowed them only four to six hours of sleep.

But Pesach quite literally took the cake. Talking about her matzah-eating experience, Lt. Amanda Clare from Pennsylvania said, "I was like, 'Hey, what is this? Is this all I'm allowed to eat?'"

Specialist Metrick Spann from Mississippi marvelled over how quickly IDF soldiers move up in rank: "You have someone who has been a year- and-a-half in the army and already has a command position."

At the end of the ceremony, American and Israeli soldiers took turns posing for snapshots. One female American soldier put her arm around an Israeli counterpart and said in a Midwestern drawl, "You know, Yehuda, I'm going to miss you."

Green said an estimated 700 U.S. soldiers would be back home next month.

"Some of us would have liked to have been in Iraq or maybe to have shot down a missile," said a soldier who only identified himself as Sgt. Cutler from Southern California.

Others said they were simply looking forward to getting home.

"I really miss my mom," said Pfc. Anthony Johnson, from Texarkana, Ark. "But that's the Army."