When God Answers Our Prayers...When Families Reunite

...smiles abound.

...phones go quiet (and rightly so).

...Daddy buys big boy bikes. And eats with real silverware on a real plate, savoring the rightness of it all.

...Littles talk and show off and talk and show off.

...and they make headlines.

CAMP SCHWAB, OKINAWA, Japan-Gunnery Sgt. Steve Morris, a platoon sergeant with Company B, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division , III Marine Expeditionary Force, gets reacquainted with his sons, Colter, 3, left, and Nolan, 2, after a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan. Morris and Company B were in Helmand Province and took part in operation Marjah., Lance Cpl. Thomas W. Provost, 6/13/2010 9:42 AM

CAMP SCHWAB, OKINAWA, Japan — One hundred twenty-six Marine and sailors of Company B, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, returned here to family and friends Sunday after their seven-month deployment to Afghanistan.

Earlier that day, they had arrived at a flight at Kadena Air Base with another 39 individual augmentees from 3rd MarDiv Headquarters Bn. who had been transported to Camp Courtney for their welcome home.

At Camp Schwab’s Beachhead parking lot, more than 60 family members and friends had arrived early to witness the returning Marines who were escorted home from Kadena by a convoy of motorcycles made up of local status of forces agreement riders.

Company B worked with three different commands while in Afghanistan to meet the reconnaissance needs of their commanders and provide them with information needed to make battlefield decisions, according to Gunnery Sgt. Steve Morris, a platoon sergeant with Co. B.

This was the first deployment for reconnaissance man Sgt. Josh Moore. The operational tempo was more varied than he thought it would be. Some parts were slow and others were fast and exciting, such as conducting missions, Moore said.

The most notable aspect of the deployment for Moore was the raids he participated in, he said.

It was raids like this that were essential for the commanders on the ground to be able to maneuver their troops, Morris said.

“We would surge into an area not understood by the commander,” Morris described.

From the intelligence that they recovered, the commanders were able to adjust the distribution of troops and change the overall strategy of the mission to accommodate the changes on the ground, Morris explained.

“It was very impressive to see what Marines could do out there,” Morris said.

There was a bittersweet edge to the return for the Marines and sailors because not everyone came home.

“We lost four guys out there. We haven’t forgotten their sacrifice, and certainly on such a joyous day, we remember the friends and brothers they were to us,” said Morris.

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Job well done, Brother-in-Law.

I've had to gently remind the children that they no longer have to pray for your safety, but the Little Man refuses to stop. (Perhaps he knows about those poisonous snakes in Okinawa that you like to wrestle with.) So we continue to pray - more in thanksgiving now - for you and Mister Mawty and Sean and Todd.... until Mama finally interrupts with an "Amen."

I mean it - Amen!

And thank you.

In Him,
Karen