Brookfield Marine gets a hero's welcome home! Nice story~

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http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Brookfield-Marine-gets-a-hero-s-welcome-1369540.php
Brookfield Marine gets a hero's welcome Dirk Perrefort, Staff Writer Updated 11:08 p.m., Friday, May 6, 2011
Hunter McGuinness, front left, celebrates his return home to Brookfield with a motorcycle ride, Friday, May 6, 2011. Photo: Michael Duffy / The News-Times | Buy This Photo Hunter McGuinness, front left, celebrates his return home to...
Nancy McGuinness shows off Mace, a 3-month-old puppy, to her son, Hunter McGuinness, who just arrived home from Afganistan, where he served as a U.S. Marine for seven months. Photographed Friday, May 6, 2011. Photo: Michael Duffy / The News-Times | Buy This Photo Nancy McGuinness shows off Mace, a 3-month-old puppy, to her son,...
John McGuinness looks at purple hearts he hung on trees outside the family's Brookfield home in memorial to members of his son's batallion who didn't come home from Afganistan. The memorial met Hunter when he arrived home Friday, May 6, 2011. Photo: Michael Duffy / The News-Times | Buy This Photo John McGuinness looks at purple hearts he hung on trees outside the...
Hunter McGuinness, center, celebrates returning to his Brookfield home with his brother, John, and sister, Cara,  U.S. Marine Cpl. Hunter McGuinness, 22, returned to his home in Brookfield Friday after spending seven months in Afghanistan. His battalion took some of the heaviest casualties, including 24 Marines who were killed in action and about 200 who were wounded. Other News
Children make a special meal for Mom Wilderness instructors need money to continue teen program in New Milford Festival honors life of young New Fairfield boyPage 1 of 1 BROOKFIELD -- To his friends and family, U.S. Marine Cpl. Hunter McGuinness is a true American hero.
But for McGuinness, who returned home Friday after spending seven months in one of the most dangerous regions of Afghanistan, he was just doing his job.
"It feels really good to be home," said McGuinness, 22, who was surrounded by his friends and family and enjoying an ice cold Budweiser on a warm spring afternoon. "It's like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders."
McGuinness, a member of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, was deployed to the Sangin district of the Helmand province -- a longtime Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
The battalion, according to published reports, took some of the heaviest casualties of any Marine Corps unit that served in Afghanistan during the past decade.
On the trees in front of the McGuinness home, Hunter's father, John McGuinness, placed 24 purple hearts for the members of the battalion who were killed in action.
"That's what really makes me emotional," said Hunter's father. "Looking at those hearts reminds me of the 24 mothers who didn't get a homecoming like this."
When Hunter McGuinness returned home, he was escorted by members of the local police department, the Patriot Guard Riders and the Connecticut Cruise News Minutemen Riders.
Members of the organizations lined the street where his home is located with American flags in hand.
"It was a pretty big surprise," McGuinness said of the homecoming. "I really wasn't expecting it."
The Marine said members of his unit in Afghanistan spent much of their time on patrols, both speaking with the locals to make sure their needs were being met, and engaging with the Taliban, who were potentially around every corner or building.
"You always have to be ready," McGuinness said. "Every step you take, you're wondering when someone is going to shoot at you. But you get used to it. It's like any other job."
The Brookfield man is being considered for a Purple Heart for the injuries he received on Thanksgiving Day last year when an Improvised Explosive Device exploded beneath him while he was walking as the point man on a patrol.
McGuinness received shrapnel wounds in his neck and back as a result of the incident. But despite the injuries, and losing his hearing for about a week, McGuinness was back on patrol with his unit within 24 hours.
"I requested to go back immediately," he said. "If you have brothers in a bad situation, you want to get back there to help them out."
Waiting on the tarmac in California's Camp Pendelton last week for his son's arrival, John McGuinness spoke with some of his son's injured comrades who had already returned home.
One, a triple amputee, told him that his son had saved his life by carrying him to a helicopter after he was wounded.
"His lieutenant bragged about what my son did," John McGuinness said. "He insisted on walking point every day."
Nancy McGuinness, Hunter's mother, said it was a difficult seven months while her son was serving overseas.
"My husband and I would check the Department of Defense website every day," she said. "Every time we saw someone from our son's battalion get killed, it was heart wrenching. We were wondering if it would be our turn next."
When the phone rang in the middle of the night, or the family's three dogs began to bark, she said her heart would sink.
"I always wondered if it was someone from the Marine Corps walking up the driveway," she said as emotion began to fill her voice. "Honestly I didn't think he was going to make it home."
Jane McGuinness, Hunter's grandmother, said she prayed every day for his safe return. Her grandson, she noted, is a third generation member of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Her husband Donald served with the Marine Corps during the Korean War and McGuinness' father, John, served with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves for six years.
"People told us if it wasn't for Hunter, his battalion would have lost a lot more men," Jane McGuinness said. "In my eyes he's a hero."
McGuinness still has about one year left in the corps and is considering re-enlisting when his time is up.
"I'm thinking about possibly joining the special forces," he said.
U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, who spoke with McGuinness by phone on Friday, said the Brookfield man is a member of the country's "1 percent who is protecting the other 99."
Murphy himself recently returned home after his third trip to Afghanistan.
"Brookfield should be really proud to have a hero like him home," the congressman said.
Murphy added that some of the heaviest fighting is in southern Afghanistan where McGuinness was located. It's a place, the congressman said, "where the Taliban are bringing the fight to us on a daily basis."
"I'm very concerned that we will see a lot more injuries and casualties this spring and summer as the Taliban launch a new offensive," he said. "Hunter was clearly in the middle of the early stages of that."
When asked if he had lost any friends in Afghanistan, McGuinness said "yeah, there were some."
He was standing in his driveway, but, by the look in his eyes, he was clearly back in Afghanistan, if only for a moment.
"But I'd rather not talk about that," he said.