Welcome Home, Daddy / Wounded soldier returns from 18-month tour
Text 
By Rachel J. Trotter
Standard-Examiner Correspondent
NORTH OGDEN -- Jennie Taylor had only one competitor to be first to reach her husband, Lt. Brent Taylor, when he returned home early Friday morning from an extended tour of duty in Iraq.
Three-year-old Megan sped around her mother to be first in her daddy's arms at the tearful, overdue greeting.
"She wasn't letting me or anyone else get to her daddy first," Jennie Taylor said. Megan was only 19 months old when her dad left for his first tour in Iraq where he served with a convoy unit for the Army National Guard 116th Engineer Convoy Security Company.
Their son, Lincoln, was only three months when he left and isn't quite sure what to do with daddy yet.
"He hasn't quite figured out the difference between the cardboard daddy, the real daddy and the daddy on the computer," Jennie said with a grin as she touched her husband's arm.
Brent was greeted with rows of flags on either side of his street, a yard full of flags and a huge banner with a picture and a full-size yellow ribbon donated by North Ogden City to the family.
The Taylors were able to keep close contact, especially for the last six months, through the Web cam, phone calls and e-mails. Brent would often share candy with his daughter through the Web cam.
"Today we got to share real candy instead of Web candy," he said as he shared a smile with his daughter.
Brent is modest about his accomplishments in Iraq which included a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and many other awards. "It's no different than the awards that most other soldiers get," he said.
"He doesn't even like it when I call him an American hero, I have to call him an American soldier," Jennie said. "But to me, that's what he is, a hero. That's what all soldiers are to me. One of them just happens to be my husband."
After one year with the convoy unit in Mosul, Iraq, Brent and 26 others in the unit extended their tour of duty and went to Baghdad to work in the U.S. Embassy training Iraqis on how to run their newly-established government.
He can't say which experience was his best because he enjoyed the unity he shared with the soldiers in Mosul, but enjoyed working with and liberating the Iraqi people while in Baghdad and said he made many close friends there.
Soon after her husband left, Jennie decided she wasn't going to be a military wife who sat home and cried the whole time he was gone. She got busy instead, moving with their two children from Orem to North Ogden to live in her parents' basement for some extra family support. She also served with the Family Readiness Group through the National Guard.
"It's kind of like a Relief Society for military families," she said. She helped set up monthly activities, service activities, food drives for soldiers, monthly newsletters and other activities that gave the families a chance to communicate and bond.
"We help each other so it's easier on the families, but it's also easier on the soldiers to know their families are being supported and taken care of," Jennie said.
Her activity made Brent's time in the war zone more bearable as well.
"It's good to know she was busy, and I heard how much it even helped the other soldiers, and that made a difference," he said.
All six of Brent's brothers serve in some military capacity and his older brother has also served in Iraq.
Jennie and Brent spent much of Friday talking about the directions their lives have taken and how things have been for the past year and a half and mostly feel blessed from their experience.
"Other people outside the military have trials and challenges and no one to help them," Jennie said. She was so amazed by all the support she received from everyone around her.
What's next for the Taylors? Brent is considering using the GI Bill benefits he's earned to attend law school, hopefully in the evenings, and would like to work for the FBI or some other branch of intelligence. Whatever it is, Jennie knows her husband won't be able to resist some form of service to his country.
"He would have lived with George Washington, that's how serious he is about serving his country," she said with a huge grin. But for today, he is perfectly content to finish his daughter's Little Mermaid puzzle and sing, "God Bless America."
Add Your Comment
hi daddy i love you