Returning Oklahoma Soldiers Helped With Transition To Civilian Life

On Saturday, soldiers with the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are back on Oklahoma soil and with their families.

From banners to balloons - to music and American flags. It was a homecoming fit for a hero, or in this case, 180 heroes who just returned from war.

Skip and Kiki Schmid were ready to wrap their arms around their son, 1st Lieutenant Ash Schmid as he arrived in Oklahoma City Saturday morning.

"I'm ecstatic that he's back, and he's whole," said father Skip Schmid.

"I'm very proud of him," said mom Kiki Schmid. "I pray every day for his physical mental and spiritual health."

Ash Schmid was deployed to Afghanistan nine months ago. Now, his two biggest fans are dancing with the delight knowing their daddy is finally home.

3/30/2012 Related Story: Green Country Families Welcome Home Members Of 45th

"Excitement - happy to be home to my little girls, my angels," said 1st Lieutenant Ash Schmid as he held his daughters.

Before these soldiers were able to return to their families, they spent a week at Camp Shelby in Mississippi where they went through a demobilization process. And over the next 90 days they will continue working on their transition back to Oklahoma life.

Through all the smiles and hugs, a sense of sadness lingers.

"We lost a lot of close friends, lots of close friends," Ash Schmid said.

Fourteen soldiers with the 45th didn't come home.

"I know it's going be hard," said Kiki Schmid. "I mean, he's talked already about how it's changed him in ways that we can't imagine."

Reintegration is a process for soldiers. Simple things like adjusting to being home take time.

"You just don't go from the battle fields of Afghanistan, to say your home in Okemah, and everything's normal the first day you get back," said Lieutenant Colonel Max Moss.

It's for that reason that the Oklahoma Army National Guard holds "Yellow Ribbon Events." It's a program where every 30 days for three months after returning from war, soldiers and their families meet to help in the adjustment process.

"They've been over there, you know, fighting for our country and now it's our job to make sure they have all the service they need when they come home," Moss said. 

But for now - these soldiers are just happy to be home and ready to honor those lost, by living the best life that they can.

"Live life to the fullest and do my best to be the man that these girls deserve and that Oklahoma expects of me," said 1st Lieutenant Ash Schmid as he returned home to his family.