A Soldier Returns Home

When Russell McCoy joined the army and headed out to Afghanistan, his mother, Lauren Shields, of Larkspur, was understandably worried. But, it was during the last three months, after he was able to come home for two weeks at Christmas, that she found herself worrying the most.

“It was a long dark tunnel. It was nice to see the light at the end of tunnel,” said Shields, a member of based at the in San Anselmo.

After McCoy graduated from Drake in 2008, he wanted to join the army right away, but Shields talked him into going to College of Marin and seeing how he still felt after a year. One year at COM, multiple meetings with a recruiter – including family dinners where the recruiter was peppered with questions – and McCoy was still ready to enlist.

“He’s a very patriotic kind of guy,” she said.

Now, after a year serving in one the hardest posts as a cavalry scout – out beyond camp in the middle of nowhere with a minesweeper – in Afghanistan, McCoy is returning home this Saturday and friends and family are ready to make sure he feels welcomed back.

Warrior’s Watch Riders and Patriot Guard will meet McCoy and his family at the Strawberry Village parking lot in Mill Valley at 1:30 on Saturday and provide a full motorcycle escort as they drive all the way up to Petaluma to a close family friend’s house for a welcome back party. The other members of the Auxiliary Unit will be gathering at the Central San Rafael pedestrian overpass with signs and banners to welcome him home – all are welcome to join them there to celebrate a returning soldier.

Though McCoy returned to his base in the United States in mid-April, neither Shields, his sister Lisa McCoy or father Phil McCoy have seen him yet. And, because of his job in Afghanistan, they didn’t have much contact with him during his year of duty either. His role as a scout put him “outside the wire,” as it’s known in the military, without any of the modern conveniences of internet, email or even frequent phone calls.

When he was able to make a phone call after he first left for the army to tell his then-fiancé that he was headed out on a mission, she broke up with him.

But, now that he’s coming back home it’s not just a relief, “it’s a new beginning,” said Shields.

McCoy will end his active duty in October and then serve a number of years as an active and then inactive reserve member. He’s ready to head back to school and figure out what he wants to do now that he’s finished his duty. And it all ends with a welcome back party at the same place in Petaluma where it began with a party when he shipped off.

“It’s like bookends,” said Shields.