Tie a yellow ribbon

After serving protection detail for the Isa Navy Base in Bahrain, the Wyoming Army National Guard 133rd Engineer Company returned home after 10 months.

"My company said 'we're going to Bahrain,' and I volunteered to go," 2011 Burns graduate Kaylee Taylor said. "My dad freaked out but he settled down after a while."

After strong headwinds delayed their landing, 162 Wyoming soldiers were welcomed at the Laramie Regional Airport Thursday morning by tears of joy and warm hugs. There to greet them was Governor Matt Mead, along with some of the members of the Wyoming Legislature and hundreds of family members and friends.

Taylor said some parts of her trip were "interesting and fun."

"Someone had appendicitis and we took him to the local hospital for treatment," Taylor said. "When we walked in it looked like any other hospital."

Taylor also sampled the local food and said one of the most popular "sandwiches" was similar to a gyro.

"They have lots of goats and sheep," laughed Taylor.

Kaylee's parents, Zack and Julie Taylor, were excited to see her safe and sound. But deployment and the life of a service member is nothing new to them. Zack is retired Navy which might be a point of contention in other families mixing Army and Navy, but not in this one. Kaylee's older brother, Ben who also graduated from Burns, is in the same Company as Kaylee. Noah, a junior at Burns is already talking about joining.

"He wants to work with explosives which might put him in the same Company as Ben and I," Kaylee said.

Attending the Burns home basketball game last week, Kaylee looked like any other alumni student in the stands. And like any other prodigal, Kaylee was welcomed with hugs and smiles from community members. Perhaps her trip was more demanding and farther reaching than packing off to a year of college, but you couldn't tell until you saw close by the humbling pride of Kaylee's mom and dad.