A battalion from our area has been on a tour in Iraq for the last year. Today they returned home and the community really came out in their support and gratitude. They were escorted from outside of town all the way to the armory on our university campus. We took our kids to cheer on the soldiers and thank them for giving up their own comfort to secure our right to the freedom we so often take for granted. 
We do know a couple of the guys in the battalion, but I didn’t expect to get as emotional as I did as I watched the tears in the eyes of family members as the buses rolled by. It is an extraordinary sacrifice for which we are grateful.
