Ayotte, Pease Greeters Welcome Home Troops

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte thanked more than 115 male and female U.S. service members who touched down in Portsmouth on their way home to see their loved ones on Tuesday afternoon.

She joined the Pease Greeters, a Portsmouth-based volunteer group who have welcomed more than 10,000 military members at Portsmouth International Airport since they were formed in 2005.

"We can't thank you enough. Our country would not be free or safe without the sacrifices you and your families have made," Ayotte told the soldiers during a private briefing in the terminal baggage claim area before they were greeted by hundreds of Pease Greeters who cheered and also thanked them for their service.

Chuck Cove, chairman of the Pease Greeters, told the returning military members that his group is non-political and that today was all about them. "We come as Americans greeting Americans," he said.

Ayotte, who serves on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said she has attended a few Pease Greeters events in Portsmouth before and is always inspired by the military men and women who enter the terminal following deployments overseas or who are heading overseas. She said the Pease Greeters are also a very special group.

"There is no other place in the country where so many citizens come out and welcome those who serve our country as well as soldiers from other countries," Ayotte said.

Some of the soldiers and Air Force members will only be home for 15 days leave before they have to return to Afghanistan to finish the deployments.

Walter Orison, an Army specialist from Springfield, Mo., said he was very pleased to be greeted not only by Ayotte and the Pease Greeters, but also members of his family. His sister-in-law Jen Mercer, her husband, Clint, and their three children, Sierra, Ella and Jackson, all from Loudon, came to welcome home Orison, who is on a 15-day leave before he has to head back to Afghanistan and serve the remaining four months of his deployment.

He said he has been serving in Kandahar for the past seven months and is looking forward to see his wife and children after catching a connector flight in Atlanta, Ga. Orison said he really appreciated the welcome he and his fellow soliders and service members received in Portsmouth on Tuesday.

"It's a nice, warm welcome," he said.