thedrifter
05-20-07, 08:44 AM
Home of the brave
20-year-old Batavia Marine here on a month’s leave
By Nancy Gier
ngier@dailyherald.com
Posted Sunday, May 20, 2007
Nick Horner sat outside his mother’s house on a quiet street in Batavia around noon Saturday, 12 hours after stepping off a plane from Iraq.
“It feels good,” he said. “It’s the little things, like the trees and the grass.”
Underneath an enormous American flag, a Marine flag and a welcome home sign, he cuddled his 20-month-old daughter, Kaidence, and tried to describe how it felt to be back with his family.
“Seeing her again was almost as good as seeing her the day she was born,” he said of Kaidence.
Horner, 20, is a lance corporal in the Marines’ 3rd battalion and has served eight months in Iraq providing security for the Iraqi people.
“It was an experience,” he said. “I do believe in what we are doing there. Our presence is definitely needed. I could see what we had accomplished in just the eight months that we were there. Like little kids going to school on their own.”
“The Iraqi people will be better off,” he added. “They’re starting to rebuild. They’re getting their own police force and army.”
He has a month’s leave, then goes to California for training before returning to Iraq early next year, probably in January or February.
Horner said the training will be a refresher course, “physical conditioning and mental preparation to get us back into the shape we’re supposed to be in before going back.”
Horner says he has no special plans for the next month except being with family.
A reception is planned for him at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Batavia High School, where he led the football Bulldogs with 94 tackles as a linebacker during the 2004 season, when they went to the playoffs. He is a 2005 graduate.
As for his plans after the Marines, Horner said he takes it “day by day.”
“I’d like to see him play football again,” said his mother, Constance Gillian, who is a certified optician. “He’s a great athlete.”
Gillian said it was “emotional” having him in Iraq.
“I move along and try not to think about it,” she said. “I would rather have him doing something else, but he has always made his own decisions.”
Ellie
20-year-old Batavia Marine here on a month’s leave
By Nancy Gier
ngier@dailyherald.com
Posted Sunday, May 20, 2007
Nick Horner sat outside his mother’s house on a quiet street in Batavia around noon Saturday, 12 hours after stepping off a plane from Iraq.
“It feels good,” he said. “It’s the little things, like the trees and the grass.”
Underneath an enormous American flag, a Marine flag and a welcome home sign, he cuddled his 20-month-old daughter, Kaidence, and tried to describe how it felt to be back with his family.
“Seeing her again was almost as good as seeing her the day she was born,” he said of Kaidence.
Horner, 20, is a lance corporal in the Marines’ 3rd battalion and has served eight months in Iraq providing security for the Iraqi people.
“It was an experience,” he said. “I do believe in what we are doing there. Our presence is definitely needed. I could see what we had accomplished in just the eight months that we were there. Like little kids going to school on their own.”
“The Iraqi people will be better off,” he added. “They’re starting to rebuild. They’re getting their own police force and army.”
He has a month’s leave, then goes to California for training before returning to Iraq early next year, probably in January or February.
Horner said the training will be a refresher course, “physical conditioning and mental preparation to get us back into the shape we’re supposed to be in before going back.”
Horner says he has no special plans for the next month except being with family.
A reception is planned for him at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Batavia High School, where he led the football Bulldogs with 94 tackles as a linebacker during the 2004 season, when they went to the playoffs. He is a 2005 graduate.
As for his plans after the Marines, Horner said he takes it “day by day.”
“I’d like to see him play football again,” said his mother, Constance Gillian, who is a certified optician. “He’s a great athlete.”
Gillian said it was “emotional” having him in Iraq.
“I move along and try not to think about it,” she said. “I would rather have him doing something else, but he has always made his own decisions.”
Ellie