It was a day of celebration Tuesday as Donnie Ransom hugged his mom back on Grand County turf.

After five years in the military, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army sergeant of the 82nd Airborne had made it back home unharmed.

He wasn’t home on leave this time; he was in the United States to stay.

His parents beamed, relieved to have their son back.

“I prayed a lot,” said mom Maura Ransom.

Donnie’s father, Donald Sr., who had been a corporal in the Army National Guard for eight years, pointed to his head of hair.

Each gray strand is attributed to his son’s time overseas during wartime, he said.

Donnie was due to complete his term last July, but an Army Stop-Loss extended that term.

For the past 15 months, he has been in Kandahar, Afghanistan, working with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and international forces.

The 2003 Middle Park High School graduate landed at Pope Air Force Base at Ft. Bragg, N.C., last week, and was greeted by his parents of Hot Sulphur Springs who traveled to meet him.

Maura described seeing her son and others coming off of the military airplane as “amazing as giving birth,” she said.

One of her son’s comrades saw his newborn baby for the first time at that moment.

“It was unbelievable,” Maura said.

At Mountain Parks Electric in Granby, where Maura works, staff members stood outside the office and greeted Donnie and Donald Sr. with banners and flags as they drove into town.

Hugs were exchanged as each welcomed Donnie home again.

“These women have known Donnie since he was little,” Maura motioned to her co-workers. “They all fretted and worried along with me.”

Rather than continuing down a military path, Donnie plans to start the process of ending his service.

In September, he wants to attend school in Florida to specialize in motorcycle mechanics.

“I wasn’t for me,” he said about not making the military his life’s career. “I want to get out and do different things with my life.”

” Tonya Bina can be reached at 887-3334 ext. 19603 or e-mail tbina@grandcountynews.com.