SOUTH BEND — It's been 15 months, but a local soldier is finally home from Iraq. Sgt. Donald Wyant of North Liberty landed Friday afternoon in South Bend. Wyant flew home from Iraq Sunday, but spent the week in North Carolina, where his unit is based.

But everyone at the airport Friday had chills when Wyant walked through the long hallway to his waiting family — a family happy he's out of harm's way.

They formed a battalion of their own as they marched through the airport to welcome their hero home.

“I said, 'Why do you want to do this?'" said Dennis Wyatt, Sgt. Wyant’s father. “He said, 'I just feel I owe it to past veterans who have given up their life to America.' How do you argue that?”

Wyant was the first person to walk off the Continental Airlines jet plane and into the arms of his parents.

“Thank God, thank God he's home,” said Eileen Wyant, Sgt. Wyant’s mother.

Wyant's unit of the 82nd Airborne was one of the first deployed during the surge.

Its members served in some of the most dangerous areas of Iraq, patrolling and going on raids.

Wyant's sister served in Desert Storm and is now based in Guam.

He said the surge has made a definite difference in Iraq, but it may be time to draw down troop levels and reduce the length of deployment to no longer than a year.

“I mean your adrenaline is pumping and you don't know what's on the other side of that door, you're about to through, so you're just on your toes and you try make the best decision you can make,” Sgt. Wyant said.

His family was well-aware of the dangers.

“He had a couple of people in his unit that got hurt, so we knew there was definitely some things to be careful of,” Eileen Wyant said.

At least for now, that no longer matters. For the first time in a long time, his family doesn't need a computer or a telephone to reach him.

Donald Wyant is home.