Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
A Utah military wife who was always there for other wives during their deployments now finally has her own husband home.
Jennie Taylor is in charge of one of the family readiness support group units for the Utah National Guard. And even on her night, her hour, her moment, when everything should be about her and her husband, Jennie still made sure others were doing OK.
"I think I'm still in shock," she said.
Jennie has been the supportive, smiling face for the Utah National Guard's 116th Security Forces Family Readiness Group, a position that comes with a lot of sobbing phone calls from other military wives who, sometimes in the middle of the night, just need someone to cry to.
Those wives don't know how many times Jennie has cried too. "People think I've helped them, but they don't know how much they've helped me. They've made this deployment go fast and well," she said.
Her husband, 1st Lt. Brent Taylor, has been in Iraq for about a year and a half. He could have come home sooner, but the Army was looking for extended-stay volunteers, and he volunteered.
But late Thursday night at the Salt Lake City Airport, Lt. Taylor's only mission was to come home. "It means a lot to see so many people here so late at night," he said. "[I've] got a lot to catch up on, especially with these little kids."
Now that he's home, there's plenty of time to do that.
"I'm going to have to fight my daughter for him. She won't let go and she won't let me have a turn, so we'll have to put her to bed so I can talk to him myself," Jennie said.
It seems Iraq wasn't the only place Lt. Taylor was needed.
Lt. Brent Taylor is one of 27 soldiers from his unit who volunteered for an extended stay in Iraq.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
