‘I’ve been gone too long’

The big, yellow sign suspended above the doors of Grant Elementary School was almost impossible to miss. “Welcome Back, Mr. Miles. U.S. Army Reserves,” it read.

Eighteen months after his deployment to Fort Polk, La., Calvin Miles has returned to his family at Grant.

“We truly missed him,” said principal Crystal Church. “He’s such a positive role model and colleague. The kids are thrilled and excited.”

As a home-school communicator, Miles helped students and families in a number of ways, from offering transportation for shopping and after-school events to providing children in need with essentials, such as eyeglasses, toothpaste, shoes and lunch money.

He also coordinated the school’s student-run safety patrol program and coached the basketball team.

Miles dropped in and out of Grant last week to visit students. His homecoming caused quite a stir.

“They cried,” he said. “They bombarded me. Mrs. Church announced it on the loudspeaker: ‘Mr. Miles is back.’ Tears were rolling everywhere.

“Some of them acted like they’d seen a ghost. They said, ‘We thought you’d died, Mr. Miles.’ They wanted to know if I’d shot anybody or killed anybody, or if I had a gun.”

Miles was deployed in November 2003 and served in a military police unit. He also spent a few months on a mission in Fort Eustis, Va. His time in the service was extended twice.

“I would call Mrs. Church and say, ‘I’m coming home,’ and then I would have to call her back and say, ‘Mrs. Church, I’m not coming home,’ ” he said.

Church said a number of students asked about Miles and his safety.

“I wasn’t sure if he was coming back,” said fourth-grader Rion Tapia. “When I saw them making that sign out there, I was happy.”

Students and faculty regularly sent Miles letters and care packages.

“I didn’t even have to ask for it,” Miles said. “If anything, I had to call back and say, ‘Please, Mrs. Church, I don’t need anything else.’ ”

Before his departure, the school presented Miles a Ulysses S. Grant medallion. Each student, teacher and staff member in the building touched the coin and sent a special thought or wish with it.

“I promised them I would bring this coin back,” Miles said. “And I touched this coin every night and knew that that support was there. And I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t do or accomplish.”

Many students and faculty have asked him if he still has the medallion.

“I locked it up, actually,” Miles said. “It’s a very valuable thing to me.”

Miles said he can’t wait to return to Grant in the fall. He will reclaim his position as home-school communicator and continue running the safety patrol program. He said he would also like to be assistant coach for the basketball team and coordinate a program to educate parents in their homes.

“I want to be more involved with the kids,” he said. “I want to take it to the home and encourage more children, to find out what the roots of the problems are.”

As for this summer, Miles said he plans to “regroup and readjust.”

“Just getting back in the swing of things and getting to know my wife and kids again, getting to know the neighborhood again,” he said. “I’ve been gone too long.”