By Andrea Uhde
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CROSBY TWP. - When 111 members of the Ohio Army National Guard, dressed in their finest camouflage attire, marched out on the field of the Rumpke Park softball field in Crosby Township Friday night, it was a sight of patriotic splendor.

As it was when Brig. Gen. Ronald Young, the assistant adjutant general of Ohio, swore in Dave Schultz, a Forest Park native who re-enlisted in the Ohio National Army Guard.

And as it has been in America since Sept. 11, 2001 and since America went to war with Iraq.

"There's a lot more support for veterans and current soldiers, a lot more American flags are flying," said Staff Sgt. Christopher Swantek, an Army recruiter at the Hamilton recruiting station, who said he's never really seen Americans this patriotic.

Maj. Ralph Tafuri, the enrollment and scholarship officer for the Army ROTC at the University of Cincinnati, said he's seen many people joining the military because they want to serve their country.

But patriotism isn't the sole reason people join, said Sgt 1st Class Mark Hobbs, a recruiter for the Ohio Army National Guard.

"The 100 percent college tuition that the Army pays has a lot to do with it," Hobbs said. The Ohio Army National Guard pays for a member to go to any Ohio college, plus it supplies spending money each month.

"There was no other way for me to afford to go to school," said Spc. Lydia Stickley of Eastgate, a member of the 1193rd Combat Engineer bridge-building company that returned from Kuwait on July 4. Stickley was one of the returning veterans honored at Rumpke Park Friday. Festivities also included several games that were part of the 51st Metro Softball Tournament, the largest softball tournament in the nation.

Rob Boswell of Fairfield was at one of the games.

"I'm very supportive of what [the Army is] doing," he said. "It's the right thing to do to welcome back" the guard members.

E-mail auhde@enquirer.com