"It was the best trip we've ever made."
That's how twin sisters Lane and Casey Higson described their return trip home to Myrtle Beach. The two both finished tours of duty in Iraq. The 28-year-old Myrtle Beach natives say they do everything together. Two years ago, they enlisted after graduating from East Carolina University under a buddy system option.
"We just wanted to be deployed together, that was our main thing, and we were," Casey says. "We'd stayed together. We were right by each other's sides."
Just after they made it through about a year of training, the girl's unit, the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division was deployed to Iraq. They say they were happy to go through it together.
Despite the cold, damp weather, dozens of patriotic parents lined the sidewalks of the Grand Strand Senior Center to welcome the girls on Monday. They waved flags and banners, screaming in joy to thank the two for their dedicated service. The girls spoke at Monday's meeting of the Blue Star Mothers. Their mom, Ruth Higson is a member of the Myrtle Beach chapter. She says the time her daughters were gone was the worst thing she's ever been through.
"{It was} extremely scary. I probably have never cried so much in my life," Ruth says.
Casey and Lane will return to Fort Riley, Kansas next week. The two plan to get their masters degrees in psychology, and continue their military careers helping veterans with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"Who knows where we'll go from here," Lane says. "Chances are we will not go together, but we enjoyed it while it lasted."
