‘‘It was the best day of my life by far,” Bryan Adams said. ‘‘I’m just glad I made it home in time.”
The couple has spent their lives in the Damascus area. They met during their freshman year at Damascus High School and graduated together in 2002. The two were engaged last fall and married in October before Adams’ company left for Afghanistan.
‘‘It is really good having him back, but it is for a short period of time, unfortunately,” Holly Adams said. ‘‘He has definitely been very missed. It has been good having him home and helping to adjust to life with the baby.”
Bryan Adams appeared to be comfortable with fatherhood on Friday, feeding his son a bottle while he talked about his military service.
Holly Adams was impressed with how easily her husband picked up the child care duties.
‘‘He jumped right in and was able to do everything,” she said. ‘‘He was almost more comfortable with him than I was.”
She said that Brayden has been a very good-natured baby who sleeps well at night.
Brayden was baptized Sunday at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Damascus after a Memorial Day service dedicated to the troops. During the service, Bryan Adams was recognized as a member of the military.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, influenced Adams’ decision to join the Army. His grandfather served in the Army during World War II. His father has passed away, but his mother, Ellen, and his brother, Brad, were instrumental in his decision to join the armed forces.
‘‘My mom and brother are super supportive,” Adams said. ‘‘They are the backbone of everything I do. If they wouldn’t have wanted me to do it, or they wouldn’t have been proud of me, then I wouldn’t have done it. It is really good knowing that everything I do they are behind me and they believe in everything I do.”
He completed basic training in October 2004 at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
Holly Adams said her friends and family have been supportive ever since they heard her husband was deployed. Many have offered to help take care of Brayden. She is living with her parents while her husband is deployed. They and her sister, Kara Schoenberg, 18, a senior at Damascus High School, are helping her with the baby.
Holly Adams said she knows her husband is overseas for a purpose.
‘‘People always talk about wanting the troops to come home,” she said. ‘‘I like to think he is doing some good and I don’t want to see everyone just pulled out and come home. I want to at least see them finish what they started.”
Bryan Adams said the region where he is stationed is remote. Progress is being made there, but it has not been publicized, he said.
‘‘It is not nearly as built up as Iraq is,” Bryan Adams said. ‘‘It is nice to spend a whole day driving to a couple villages Americans never go. We will go back a week or two later, in a place that there was nobody, now everybody wants to come out and shake [our] hands. It is nice to see you are actually making a change and making progress.”
Adams has grown close to his fellow soldiers during his time in Afghanistan. He expects to return home in January.
In the meantime, Holly Adams said, she hopes her husband’s visit home will make his remaining time in Afghanistan go by faster.
