BUXTON – Buxton firefighters, friends and a twin brother turned out on July 2 at Bonny Eagle Middle School to welcome home a soldier who returned from a deployment in Afghanistan.

“It’s good,” Staff Sgt. Jamie Grant said as he greeted those at the turnout. “This was a surprise.”

Grant said it was great that the hometown Buxton folks took time out of their day to welcome him back.

Grant returned home after serving about a year in Afghanistan with the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion. The battalion mobilized on Aug. 10 last year.

Back in the states, the unit had arrived at the Augusta Armory on July 1 for a formal ceremony. The next day, Grant’s wife, Susan, drove him home to Buxton.

A convoy of fire trucks met them at the middle school on Route 35 in Buxton as a surprise. In an emotional moment when Grant stepped from an SUV, his twin brother, Jason Grant, also a Buxton firefighter, greeted him with a hug.

Jamie Grant made the rounds, shaking hands with all those who gathered for his homecoming.

“He’s skinny,” his wife said, when asked how her husband looked.

In Buxton, Grant is a member of the Buxton Fire Department and he serves as a lieutenant at the Chicopee Fire Station. Major Michael Steinbuchel, spokesman for the Maine Army National Guard and also a Buxton resident, said Grant unselfishly volunteers his time in Buxton.

Steinbuchel, who served about a year in Iraq with Grant, described Grant as a special soldier and a “vital member” of the 133rd.

“He’s a hero,” Steinbuchel said, “and we’re glad he’s home.”

In Afghanistan, Steinbuchel said Grant’s unit dismantled military bases and 35 miles of electrical wiring. “In Iraq, they built up bases,” Steinbuchel said, adding that he and Grant experienced several close calls there.

Last week, while Grant was on the road home from Augusta, Jason Grant, also a Buxton firefighter, tracked his brother’s vehicle by GPS on his cellphone and kept the anxious gathering at the school updated with progress reports on the trek from Augusta.

“It’s a relief,” Jason Grant said about his brother’s homecoming. “The world has been lifted off my shoulders.”

Jason Grant said he had stayed in touch regularly with his brother while deployed.

“Thank God for Facebook,” he said.

After the greetings, Jamie Grant and his wife and their two children, Alexis and Josh, were escorted to their home from the school. Lights on fire trucks flashed, horns honked and a Buxton police cruiser led the procession with a siren blaring.

“We’ll have a family party,” Jason Grant said.

Staff Sgt. Jamie Grant returned to a crowd of friends and family members last week at Bonny Eagle Middle School. Above, members of the Buxton Fire-Rescue Department provided a warm reception to Grant, who is a lieutenant with the fire department and just completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan.  Returning home to Buxton from duty in Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Jamie Grant of Maine’s 133rd Engineer Battalion is embraced by his twin brother, Jason Grant, on July 2 outside Bonny Eagle Middle School, where firefighters and friends gathered for a homecoming celebration.