Weather conditions kept paratroopers from dotting the skies over Texas State Technical College Airfield Saturday, but even on terra firma, amid political oratory and military pomp, spectators had the sense another page in Waco’s rich military history was being written in the reactivation ceremony of the Texas Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Airborne Regiment.

The ceremony served notice that efforts are now underway to relocate the unit from Camp Mabry to somewhere in its ancestral home of McLennan County — and we join in celebrating that prospective homecoming, regardless of when and where the outfit finally lands, both figuratively and literally.

Yes, one could ask with justification: Is it worth the expense, including the proposed $5 million to plan and design new battalion headquarters in the Waco area and millions more later for its actual construction? Fiscal hawks could strenuously debate this matter, but on Saturday we noted that the issue seemed firmly settled in favor of relocation to the Waco area. TSTC’s huge airfield — formerly James Connally Air Force Base and onetime landing site of Air Force One during the Bush administration — is just one of the possibilities. A formal announcement has yet to be made.

The fact Saturday’s reactivation ceremony was staged on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that so changed the way we view ourselves and the world no doubt stiffened our resolve. Our military is something we can rally around, especially citizen soldiers who come from our very walks of life.

On Saturday we saw tea party-flavored candidates at the TSTC Airfield as well as solid representation by the group Vets for Chet, backing Congressman Chet Edwards, the Waco Democrat working to secure funding for this endeavor. State Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson, R-Waco, and Waco Mayor Jim Bush joined in saluting the likely return of what was once dubbed the “Waco Regiment” before military reorganization shuffled it elsewhere.

Nationwide on the 9/11 anniversary we witnessed divisiveness and rancor among Americans that our enemies no doubt revel in. Saturday’s local ceremony on the surface had little to do with all that; instead, the shadow of what befell our nation on 9/11 ensured a rare moment of unity on the flightline, conjuring a moment of appreciation for groups like the 143rd. And as the unit looks ahead to duty in places such as Afghanistan, we share pride in its legacy — everything from chasing Pancho Villa across the border to fighting Germans in World War II. And we have one more reason to look into the sky with sunny anticipation and confidence.