I thought I would take some time to fill you in on all that thas happened in the last week. We left on November 8th for Fort McCoy WI, but there were a few stops along the way, my hubby had business in Ill. and we stopped there first. I can't tell you how anxious I was by Thursday. I could barely sit in the car for very long and you know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, had that all day and had to remember to breathe so I wouldn't go absolutely crazy on the drive. We didn't alk a whole lot, I guess we just didn't know what to say to each other.
We arrived at Volk Airfield about noon and had to wait in line because they weren't letting us in til a certain time:


Then we had to walk to the hangar and have a briefing so we would know what they would have to do when they got home and what was available to them now that they were back. Then we were told that we would be kept informed about their eta and that they were 5 minutes out, so we all rushed outside and on to the tarmac, to watch their plane on arrival, almost immediately we saw the shiny speck in the sky and new that this was the flight we had been waiting 14 long months for:
We were told that they would have to deboard the plane and stow their weapons on a dolly that would load them into a truck to be taken back to Fort McCoy. As we watched them deboardit was hard to tell who was who:
And then you know from the walk that that is the one you have been waiting to see:
There she is in the sunglasses, isn't that the most beautiful sight you have ever seen. I just can't describe the feeling you have when you first lay eyes on them, kind of like this can't be real, they have changed so much even though they had r & r in February. We got to spend about 2 hours with them:
Then there was a brief ceremony for their sae return and to remember the one soldier they had lost in the 14 months they were gone, just to let you all know this was Michelle's best friend and the guy who swore to us he would do anything in his power to make sure she made it home safely and he did just that on April 22nd when he was killed in a IED attack on their convoy, if not for SPC Colburn, we would not have had the great homecoming we had:
Then it was time for them to get back on the bus and head over to Fort McCoy to start the long process of demobing. Then we would go and get her every night and she would stay in the hotel room with us and we would have to have her back in the morning by 7:30 am. Then came Sunday and the long ride home.
IT has seemed at times like this day would never get here but it finally did and now starts the rest of her life:
Hoping and praying to see more of these posts as time goes by. Thanks so much for all the prayers for Michelle's safe return.

Have a good day
Barb