LEWISTON – After 11 months apart from their families – serving in Mongolia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines – some Marine reservists are returning home Wednesday to Maine.

“We get to be the lucky ones,” said Taylor-Paige Cote, whose husband is Lance Cpl. Matthew Cote of Auburn. He will be among the 150 or so men and women who are scheduled to arrive in Topsham around 10 a.m.

They are returning home even as other local troops are preparing for service abroad. Army reservists from Auburn, the 616th Transportation Company, left earlier this week. Area members of the Maine Army National Guard, Company C of the 133rd Engineering Battalion, plan to leave immediately after the new year.

Saying good-bye to these soldiers has made Taylor-Paige more grateful that her own Marine is coming home. It’s been so long.

She’s not alone.

Cpl. Ryan Guay of Lewiston will return home to his wife, Kimberly, and their little boy, Colby, born on Oct. 10. By late January, he plans to be back to work as a Lewiston police officer.

Ryan’s father, John Guay, works for a federal office that briefs reservists and National Guard people before they leave and when they return. He reminds all that their jobs are safe, protected by law.

“It’s made me better at my job,” John Guay said. “It’s made my briefings more pertinent.”

He knows what the families have gone through. He feels the pride of their return. Both Guay and Cote will be greeted by several members of their families.

Cote’s mother, Marlene Morin, spent Tuesday erecting banners outside her New Auburn home and decorating the inside. She decorated her Christmas tree with tiny flags and bought hand flags for Matthew’s children, Jason, 4, and Madison, 2, to wave as their father gets off the bus.

The two children are as excited as anyone, said their mom, Taylor-Paige. Jason dreams about having his dad watch him play hockey. He is confused, though, about his father’s role in world events.

“My son thinks daddy caught Saddam Hussein,” Taylor-Paige said.

Mobilized for the war, the group never made it to Iraq. For more than four months, they waited at Camp Lejeune, N.C. for a call to war. Instead they were sent to Japan.

They provided security in South Korea and the Philippines and helped train both the Philippine Marines and the Mongolian Army.

“It’s been a long year,” said Ryan’s mother, Lucy Guay. At times she didn’t know what country her son was in or if he was safe.

But at 4 p.m. Tuesday, she knew. The time was typed clearly on a Marine itinerary.

“Right now, he’s getting on the bus,” she said. “He’s coming home.”

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