ROUSING WELCOME FOR GUARDSMEN.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - After 11 months of patrolling, fighting and safeguarding elections in Iraq, 68 National Guardsmen were welcomed home Monday by hundreds of cheering relatives and supporters waving American flags.

The guardsmen - who include police officers, prison officers, a Sparkletts sales rep and a farm supervisor - marched in tan desert combat uniforms into downtown Palmdale's Poncitlan Square where they got a rousing hometown welcome.

``It's great. It's been a long one,'' said tank commander Staff Sgt. Steve Pesta, a production supervisor for Bolthouse Farms in Bakersfield, as he hugged his wife, Ursula, and sons, Fischer, 7, and Hunter, 11.

The separation was also long for the wives - who had to raise their children by themselves on a soldier's pay while worrying about grim TV news from Iraq of fighting, bombings and death.

``Off and on I'd watch it, when I could take it - and then I'd not watch it for a long time,'' Ursula Pesta said.

The Palmdale-based guardsmen are from Company B of the 185th Armor Regiment's 1st Battalion. They were mobilized in November 2003, the first combat National Guard unit from California to be sent into a war zone since the Korean War, although transportation, military police and other support units were sent to Iraq earlier.

After training in Washington and California, they were sent to Iraq in April 2004 and left last month.

All of Company B's men made it home. One soldier from Washington who served with the unit was shipped home with wounds, as well as a nomination for the Silver Star for valor. Three other Company B men were wounded, though they returned to duty, and one of those has been recommended for a Bronze Star for valor.

The Palmdale homecoming was a double one for one family.

Santa Clarita residents Richard and Michelle Bain came with daughter- in-law Judy Bain and their teenage grandchildren to welcome Judy's husband, Kim, a sergeant with Company B and in civilian life a Sparkletts sales representative.

After the ceremony was over, one of the officers called away Kim as the family stood talking in the city plaza with a reporter about Kim's identical twin brother, Chris. Chris is an Army reserve sergeant who had been hospitalized since April from wounds from an Iraqi mortar attack.

A few minutes later, Chris - in Army dress uniform - stepped up with his brother to hug their parents. Kim's wife had been in on the arrangements, but Chris' appearance was a surprise to his parents.

``We're in heaven,'' Richard Bain said.

``We're beyond happy - the two of them being together again,'' Michelle Bain said.

The brothers last saw one another - by chance - the morning that Chris was wounded.

Kim was guarding an Army camp when Chris arrived in a convoy. The brothers didn't recognize each other, but Chris noticed that a soldier on guard was staring at him, Judy Bain said. Chris pulled off his helmet and stalked over to confront the stranger, only to find out the soldier was his brother.

They spent the day together. Chris was wounded after the convoy pulled out.

On the outbound convoy, a mortar round exploded close to Chris. Shrapnel tore into both arms, though his rifle shielded him from much of the blast. Surgeons saved damaged fingers on his left hand, but he still has constant pain in one arm, numbness in the other, his mother said.

This 21st-century war is different on the home front than World War II or even Vietnam. E-mails and regular phone calls take the place of letters that could take weeks to arrive.

But that makes it more worrisome when the e-mails or calls stop because a soldier is someplace without a computer or a phone.

``He called every 10 days or two weeks. I kept my cell phone on all the time, basically 24 hours a day,'' said Diane Larson, wife of Company B 1st Sgt. John Larson.

E-mail and telephones also mean soldiers do long-distance fathering.

``He'd say, 'Put them on the phone.' They'd be good for months,'' Judy Bain said.

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(color) Sgt. Kim Bain of Valencia is welcomed home from Iraq on Monday by his wife, Judy, at downtown Palmdale's Poncitlan Square at a ceremony for returning National Guardsmen.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Special to the Daily News