Marines welcomed home from Afghanistan

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) - After being deployed for almost a year, 73 members of the Marine Corps Reserve returned to Battle Creek Tuesday afternoon.

The members of Bridge Company Alpha are from all over the country, but many are from West Michigan.

They shipped out in March 2011, and then went to Afghanistan in July. Their mission was to build forward operating bases in Helman Province.

They returned to the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center in Battle Creek from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Janine Johnson of Lake Ann welcomed her son Shane home from deployment.

"His first and hopefully his last," she said.

She worried for her son during the six-month separation.

"You wake up in the middle of the night, wondering  where they are, what they're doing, how they're handling what they're living through," she said.

Shane was just happy to be home.

"Pretty overwhelming. Great feeling to be back. I missed it," said Shane Johnson, 22.

Lance Corporal Ricky Schiebner of Grand Rapids was reunited with his fiancee Emily. Thoughts of home and Emily were often on his mind during deployment, he said.

"We would always go to John Ball Zoo and walk around in the fall," said Schiebner.

Heather Evans of Dundee was excited to see her husband, Gunnery Sgt. Brian Evans. The couple has four children, including a daughter who just turned 2 years old.

"It's been tough, to say the least," she told 24 Hour News 8. "But we're proud of Brian and proud of everybody who went over there, and we're just really excited and glad that this long journey is about to come to an end."

Trevor Hegner of Battle Creek met his second child, a daughter named Devin, for the first time on Tuesday. She was born while he was on deployment.

"It was hard. It was very hard," he said. "One of the hardest things I had to do."

Hegner's wife Stevi agreed that the separation was difficult.

"But even though he was far away, it was nice to have his support," she said.

After missing so much time with his son Trevin, Stevie and the new baby, Hegner said the United States' decision end combat operations in 2013 is the right call:

"I say pack it up. Let's come home."