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thedrifter
03-22-08, 04:48 AM
Marines return home to the Q-C

By Thomas Geyer | Saturday, March 22, 2008

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Scott Miles, of Alpha, Ill., got the message from his wife: no more tours.

Returning from his third tour of duty in the Middle East, Miles, 42, met his wife of 20 years, Felicia, at the Quad-City International Airport Friday night. He arrived home with seven other Marines.

“She says I don’t have to hang it up just yet, but if I go anyplace else, I’ll be poor,” Miles said.

“Hopefully it will be winding down enough in the near future that they shouldn’t be tapping into us quite so bad,” he added.

Miles is a member of the General Support and Maintenance Company, 4th Maintenance Battalion, 4th Marine Logistic Group, stationed at the Rock Island Arsenal.

The group of Marines that landed at 9:35 p.m. were the first of a total of 20 stationed at the Arsenal who were expected to return home Friday.

Felicia Miles said that her husband’s first tour of duty was four months in Afghanistan. His second tour was eight months in Iraq. This one he just finished was 10-months long. All three tours have occurred during the past five years.

“It doesn’t get any easier,” said Felicia Miles, a research analyst at St. Ambrose University in Davenport. Thankfully, there is e-mail, she added.

The group of Marines walked through a phalanx of 25 American flags held proudly by the Patriot Guard Riders.

Holding a small flag among the Patriot Guard was 3-year-old Skyler DeClerck-Davis, of Rock Island, who stood with her grandmother, Ruth Davis.

“Her father’s (Andrew Davis) in the Navy in Afghanistan,” said Ruth Davis, a member of the Guard.

Joseph and Rachel Howard, of Camanche, Iowa, waited for their son, Nathaniel, a 24-year-old Lance Corporal, to return from his first tour overseas. With them were Nathaniel’s paternal grandparents, Joseph Sr. and Janelle Howard, Nathaniel’s best friend Jeff Wilson and his wife, Stacy.

Joseph Sr., 83, served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a flight engineer on a B-29.

Ellie