For reservists from New Orleans, a bittersweet homecoming

[Barrett808]

ALEXANDRIA, United States (AFP) - After surviving 11 months of gunfire and suicide bomb attacks in Iraq, it should be time for a party. But for Staff Sergeant Calvin Porter, returning home carries a bittersweet taste.

New Orleans was his home until Hurricane Katrina virtually wiped it away.

"I've been told everything is pretty much destroyed," said Porter, a black reservist from the Louisiana National Guard who used to live in an apartment in east New Orleans, a quarter devastated by the floodwaters that followed the storm.

"Everything is gone, so I am probably going to relocate."

Earlier, in a parking lot in front of the National Guard armory in Alexandria, a small town about 230 kilometers (143 miles) from the state capital Baton Rouge, some 100 families waited to greet Porter's unit returning from service in Iraq.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050916/ts_alt_afp/usweatherkatrinairaq_050916131546%3b_ylt=A9FJqYk7HytD_f8A3wfYa7gF%3b_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[Megahurtz]

1. Yeah, and wait until he finds out the truth. n/t