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A group of military veterans led the motorcade -- as friends, family and members of the public lined a concord street. For marine lance corporal Doug Huggard, it was a warm welcome home after eight months in Iraq.
"Doug's the man. He went to Iraq and we didn't," said Travis Tays, Huggard's friend.
Concord's mayor even showed up to declare Thursday "Doug Huggard Day." But the way the 21-year-old infantryman tells it, his deployment was nothing to write home about.
"I would have to say I was kind of bored. There's not really much going on over there anymore. I mean, the Iraqi police and the Iraq army are taking care of mostly everything. We're kind of there I thought we'd be there in an over watch position," said LCpl. Doug Huggard.
Even so, Huggard's family couldn't be more proud, and relieved that he's home safe and sound. His big sister Angela has been wearing a marine corp bracelet for good luck.
"For some reason in my head I thought if I was wearing this he'd be safe, and he is safe, so, we're happy," said Angela Huggard, Huggard's sister.
But in a matter of months, Huggard will be heading to even more dangerous territory – Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Huggard's stay here in concord will be a short one, only 30 days. After that, he heads to 29 Palms, where he'll undergo training for his next deployment.
And it's a deployment, he's looking forward to.
"We'll be doing a lot of patrolling, checking out all of the caves and stuff because they like to hide up in the mountains, and I think the war is lot more kinetic and a lot more aggressive there in Iraq," said Huggard.
No word on exactly when Huggard will get called to Afghanistan. He says when he does, he'll be ready.
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