107th returns

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ISHPEMING - 1st Lt. Jesse Kohtala waited eagerly for formation to break.

After listening as speakers welcomed the 107th Combat Engineers home to the Upper Peninsula after their one-year tour in Iraq, Kohtala quickly made his way through the gym at Westwood High School and found the familiar faces he has been longing to see. His wife, Lottie, and his 2-year-old daughter, Tayla, greeted him with tears welling in their eyes.

"They were all tears of relief and joy," said Kohtala, who was company commander for the forward support company and was on his first tour. "It was amazing to see them. It's been crazy. I've been talking to (Tayla) on the phone and getting to see her was just great. She's completely different than the last time I saw her."

Kohtala, who is 30 years old and resides in Marquette, hefted his daughter into his arms, embracing her. When he left, she was just over a year old. Half her lifetime later, Tayla was hugging her daddy once again.

Tayla played with his uniform as Kohtala looked around at the community where he'd built a house just before departing for the war.

"It's wonderful seeing all this green," Kohtala said. "Green grass. Green trees. After seeing nothing but dust ... this is amazing."

While Kohtala held his family close, another soldier was commenting on the weather. Spc. Gary Nellist II, of Gwinn, felt the Upper Peninsula summer weather and shivered. It may have been cold compared to the 110 degrees it was when the Army transport lifted off from Kuwait to bring the 107th home, but it still wasn't as cold as Nellist would have liked.

"He said it was beautiful to be home, but now we gotta make it snow," laughed his sister Jamie Barnhart, 28, of Skandia. "My little sister (Rena Nellist) and I were on each side of him and we whacked him in the arms. We told him we just got rid of the stuff."

Nellist has purchased himself a 2009 Skidoo snowmobile and was hankering to try it out. But, another hankering quickly distracted him.

"I'm hungry," he said to his family as they left the gymnasium. He already had a couple of places in mind. Barnhart said the Nellist family made their way to their hometown of Gwinn where her brother dined on Rodney's Pizza for lunch and ribs from the Up North Lodge for dinner.

"It's nice," said Barnhart. "We're so glad he's home."

Barnhart said her brother, who is 22 years old, was happy to serve his country.

"It's their choice," she said. "If you agree with it or not, you still have to support them. My two boys (Benjamin, 10, and Nathan, 5) look up to my brother. When we were standing there, in the gym, I had to hold onto their T-shirts so they wouldn't go running across the floor to him. He's their hero."

The 107th certainly received a heroes' welcome as they marched into the gym before being dismissed to be with their families and friends.

"It was wonderful, but it just couldn't go fast enough," said Kohtala. "I couldn't wait to see my family. I just can't believe it's actually happening. You think about it for so long and now we're finally home. It just doesn't seem like it's even real yet."

The 107th, which does its training at the Ishpeming Armory but has detachments in Ishpeming, Ironwood, Gladstone, Marquette, Calumet, Baraga, Iron River, Kingsford and Sault Ste. Marie, did not suffer a casualty while stationed in Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. Unfortunately, the battalion they served in suffered six losses while in Iraq and another before deployment. The 107th comprised the forward support company and the headquarter support company while three sapper companies from the 171st out of North Carolina, the 237th out of Virginia and the 1138th out of Missouri went out and supported field operations.