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Marines, Families Get Best Thankgiving Gift Ever

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Jessica and Ian Mitchell embrace after his return with other reservists in the Marine 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion on Tuesday.

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By RAY REYES

rreyes@tampatrib.com

Published: November 25, 2008

TAMPA - The cheering began as soon as the buses came into view.

By the time the first of the Marine reservists stepped off the bus, the crowd of more than 300 was in full roar, waving a sea of American flags and banners.

One shout rose above the others and summed up the emotions of the crowd: "Our boys are home!"

Angie and Kyle Schumacher showed up early Tuesday at the Marine Reserve Training Center on Gandy Boulevard to welcome home their son Lance Cpl. Scott Schumacher, one of 70 Marine reservists from the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion that served a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq.

The crowd formed about 4 p.m., and the Marines arrived at the training center about 6:30 p.m.

The Schumachers brought with them a banner adorned with hearts and an almost unbearable anticipation to see their son again.

"This is the best Thanksgiving a parent could have," said Angie Schumacher, whose family is from Kingsley Lake, near Jacksonville.

Kyle Schumacher said he was ecstatic the battalion had no casualties during the tour.

"It's just a wonderful feeling that he's come back without anything happening to him or his fellow Marines," he said.

The Marines conducted counterinsurgency operations and provided base security in the Al Anbar province. The battalion trained, organized and equipped other Marine units, military officials said.

The battalion was last deployed in 2005 for a tour of duty in Djbouti, East Africa.

"This is the third time I've done this, and it never gets old," said Sgt. Richard Wester of Orlando about seeing his wife and children again after a long deployment. "Coming home to your family is the greatest thing in the world."

Surrounding Wester and his wife Lindsey were dozens of families looking for their particular Marine. As soon as they were found amid the crowd, children ran into outstretched arms, fathers patted sons on the shoulders and couples kissed.

Some did not let go of each other for long moments.

"His phone calls kept me alive," said Jessica Mitchell, 20, about her husband, Sgt. Ian Mitchell. She kept her arms around her husband's neck as she talked.

"Nothing you can print can describe how this feels," she said.

Ian Mitchell, 24, said he has served two tours with the battalion. The one he just got back from was the hardest, he said, because he and Jessica had been married only a month before the deployment.

"I had her to come home to," Ian Mitchell said.

He then turned to his wife, held her tight and told her what they both wanted to hear for the past seven months.

"I'm home."

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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