But no one was talking about war Friday at Sky Harbor Airport — because this was a homecoming.
Jake is one of 87 members of the Arizona National Guards' Alpha Company, 422nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion who just returned after a 10-month deployment in the Middle East. As the guardsmen were dismissed, Edith Valdez and 4-year-old Cesar had their eyes set on one of them, Sargeant Cesar Valdez. Alpha Company provided communication services to coalition forces in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Spartan Shield; two missions targeting ISIS-affiliated terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa.