Army Staff Sgt. David Larson gave his mother the best present she could ever have this year — himself in one piece.

Diana Parker/News-Herald Photo Army Staff Sgt. David Larson is greeted by friends and customers of his mother, Shay Larson, right, at a reception Saturday to welcome him home from a second tour in Iraq.

The twenty-five-old recently returned from a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, including three months in Baqubah as part of the U.S. troop surge.

"Where haven't I been in Iraq?" Larson said, recalling his two tours with the Army's 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry regiment.

He spent his first tour mostly in Mosul as part of the first Stryker brigade in Iraq. Most of this second tour was spent in Baghdad, until the surge into Baqubah where he lost two close friends.

"I've had more close calls outside Baghdad than in," he said. "Baghdad was bad. You never know where they're going to hit."

"That last three months were the hardest," mother Shay Larson said. "He was right in the middle of that surge."

Shay used the Internet to keep up with events in Baqubah, but the strain of worrying about David was hard on her. She said she worked two jobs just to keep her mind off her son.

"I think I'm probably the most excited person in the world," Shay said Saturday at a reception for David at the Lakeview Park clubhouse. "The weirdest thing is, I can pick up the phone now and call him any time I want. I feel normal."

Larson enlisted in the Army just one month before Sept. 11.

"He was in basic training when (Sept. 11) happened, and we were like, oh no," Shay said.

David recalled watching on television at camp as the second tower of the World Trade Center fell and thinking, "Oh my goodness — we're in for it now."

Currently based in Ft. Lewis, Wash., Larson will soon move his wife, Jessica, and four-year-old son, Connor, to Fort Jackson, S.C., where he'll begin a two-to-three-year training command assignment. The couple has another child on the way.

Shay, who works for a pest control company and also has a pool cleaning business, is sorry to see David move across the country, but she's grateful just to have him back on U.S. soil.

"I'm the proudest mother in the world," Shay said. "I understood why he had to be there — I supported him being there â€- I was proud of him for doing that."

That pride was evident as family, friends and customers gathered to greet her son Saturday. Many who had never met David approached to shake his hand and offer their sincere gratitude.

During the reception the Marine Corps League presented the colors, and members of the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars offered David a membership card good for entrance to their meeting hall on London Bridge Road.

"I may be down there tomorrow," he laughed.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.