"Well, I'll spend time with my family, get to the slopes and relax," he said, before blurting out the most pressing item: "and I'm hoping that before I go back, I'll be engaged."

Whitney was among 115 Utah National Guard soldiers who flew home from Louisiana for 20 days of leave before they head to Iraq sometime in December. One of his sisters had traveled from Cleveland and another sister and a brother came from Las Vegas to greet him at the Utah Air Guard Base in Salt Lake City.

Still, he was concerned.

Standing across the way was his girlfriend, Lauri Mackintosh. She conceded how difficult it has been to maintain a long-distance relationship.

"I'm going to wait for him though," she said. "See, we're going to get married."

Today, Whitney's family is celebrating Thanksgiving at his parents' Salt Lake City home. Last night they carved pumpkins. Christmas will be sandwiched in before the Utah unit returns to Fort Polk, La., for deployment.

"He joined the Guard last year on Oct. 18," said his mother, Glenda Whitney. "He knew what he was getting into, but he said, 'Somebody's got to do it.' "

The soldiers are with the 148th Field Artillery Battalion, based in Logan, Brigham City and Salt Lake City. They are among the 4,300 citizen soldiers with the 116th Cavalry, headquartered in Idaho.

The soldiers were mobilized in July and sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Polk for retraining as a security force.

Their four months of training time will not be counted in the Army's order of one year "boots on the ground" for most soldiers deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Inside the giant hangar, Spc. Rick Lund of Logan lingered in a long embrace with his wife of eight months while his comrades hurriedly departed, holding hands or carrying children dressed in their Halloween costumes.

Spc. Kyle Martineau's son Austin, 2 1/2 , was decked out in cowboy garb; 8-month-old Will was dressed as a cow. Martineau's wife, Sirena, said she was planning to celebrate all the fall and winter holidays at their Providence home before her husband returns to duty.

"This is more exciting than Christmas anyway," said Elisa Patterson of Hyde Park, wife of Staff Sgt. Les Patterson. Their children, Cody, 15, Clinton, 13, Brenin, 11, Rebecca, 9, and 6-year-old Leslie held signs welcoming their soldier-father home.

Another sign read, "Welcome Home Justin," for a third-generation soldier, 2nd Lt. Justin Christensen. His father, Jack Christensen, was born while his grandfather, Tom Christensen, served with the 222nd Field Artillery in South Korea.

"This is a Utah Guard family," said Christensen's wife, Maylinn.

The tankers had room for a few Idaho soldiers, but only one returned with the Utah unit. The others didn't want to chance being stranded and bought commercial tickets home.

"It would have been a hardship for a lot of these soldiers to make their way home without a little assistance," said Lt. Col. David A. Thomas, spokesman for the Utah Air Guard's 151st Refueling Wing.

"It's the least we can do."