NATCHEZ &045; Friends and family were awaiting his arrival, camped out in the backyard waiting to surprise the Marine who had left for the Middle East just eight months before.

As he walked through the gate, his face lit up to see the people he had not seen in a while.

Patrick Krueger was back home in Natchez, even if only for a little while.

What is on his agenda while he is home? Spending time with friends and family.

Also on the agenda, because they did not have the chance to have a formal ceremony before he left, Patrick and his wife Jessica Calvitt Krueger will have their formal wedding ceremony Aug. 16.

The Marine, a combat engineer, had spent the last seven months in the deserts of Kuwait and in Baghdad building prisoner camps, in charge of explosives and clearing the way for the Marines behind him.

When he first entered the Marines, he said he &uot;wanted to do something.&uot; Then he was training to go to Afghanistan. When he reached Camp Pendleton in California, then he began preparing for Iraq.

&uot;It was extremely scary,&uot; Jessica said of knowing Patrick was in Iraq.

But, Krueger did get to call home to family from time to time to let everyone know he was safe.

Journalists from the New York Times, Associated Press and Boston Globe were with Krueger and fellow Marines the whole time. The journalists would let the Marines use their phones to call home, many times in exchange for supplies they had run out of.

&uot;That was the best thing of all,&uot; Krueger said. &uot;When you haven’t talked to someone for three months and you get to use the phone for five minutes, you don’t get to say much.&uot;

While in Kuwait, the Marines were told a window of time before they would be called into Iraq. A week before, they were told to let their families know they would be going in.

Everyone dealt with Krueger’s absence in different ways.

His mother, Sue Krueger, had a tough time knowing her son was in Iraq. She even joined support groups to deal with her worries and the uncertainties. She found one group online, marinemoms.com.

Through this group, she talked to other families with Marines in Iraq and even to war veterans that assured her her son was being taken care of.

When she finally saw him at the airport in New Orleans Saturday, she said it was so emotional, &uot;I felt like a bottle with a cork on it,&uot; and she was ready to explode into tears.

Jessica and her mother, Carla Allgood, were glued to their television sets each night as the news came on.

&uot;We literally only had a couple channels on our TV &045; CNN, MSNBCŠ&uot; Allgood said.

Each night they would listen for news of the war but also to see if they could find Krueger on the screen.

&uot;I wanted a glimpse of him,&uot; Jessica said. &uot;I was praying nothing would happen to him.&uot;

Students from Cathedral School sent packages to Krueger during the war. They would send him supplies like baby wipes and Chapstick.

&uot;It was like the best thing in the world,&uot; Krueger said with appreciation for all of the people who thought of him while he was gone.

Natchez students were not the only ones thinking of Krueger.

His 11-year-old sister, Olivia Bradwell, said she missed her brother very much and got her fifth-grade class in Baton Rouge to write letters to her brother. She also sent packages to Krueger, filled with an assortment of things &045; gum, shaving cream &045; &uot;good stuff,&uot; she said.

When she met her brother at the airport Saturday, she said she ran to him and gave him a big hug.

Bradwell said it is &uot;good Š great Š fantastic!&uot; to have her brother home.