Mudd's expression softened as he talked about his son.
"He'll be 11 in September," he said. "We were given a quantity of AT&T calling cards which were donated by companies and individuals, and I called him quite often."
Jessamine County Sheriff Joe Walker reflected on how difficult it is for soldiers having to leave their families behind.
"They make so many sacrifices; people don't really understand how hard it is to leave your family and loved ones behind for a year," Walker said.
"It's a strain on families. David has a young son, and I can imagine his son had changed by the time he got back. He missed almost a year of his life. But we are tickled to have David back safely. He's a great guy and a great asset to our agency. We're just so glad he returned safely."
While deployed overseas, Mudd said his wife had the shoulder the load at home.
"She had to do it all while I was gone, and it was especially difficult for her, because she's from England and does not know a lot of people here yet," he said. "But she got by, and we had some wonderful neighbors who helped out."
Mudd, a Louisville native, has been with the Jessamine County's Sheriff's Office for five years. He has been in law enforcement for 16 years and in the military for 23 years. His unit, the Naval Law and Order Detachment, was sent to Camp Arifjah outside Kuwait City on military police duty.
"We went there to give the Army police a break, because a lot of them had been on active duty there for quite some time, so they wanted the Navy to kick in with some of our security forces," he said.
A typical day for Mudd and his unit consisted of patrolling eight army bases, and helping with traffic accidents outside the bases. Mudd said that although the majority of the time, the patrol was monotonous, but sometimes things got a little hairy.
"We had a Kuwaiti national who ran through one of the barriers," he remembered. "He didn't get onto the base, but he got through the first barrier."
Mudd said when the man would not turn over his keys and cell phone, they were worried about the possibly that he was trying to set off an explosive device using his cell phone.
"But it turned out that he was just intoxicated, so we turned him over to the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior Police," he a said.
Mudd has served in all branches of the military, enlisting in the Army just out of high school, then he switched to the Air National Guard, finally enlisting in the Navy Reserve just over four years ago.
When he got back, Mudd found out that the wheels of technology had been turning during his absence.
"I was in class all last week, catching up with some technology," he said. "We using different computer programs now to fill out our forms," he said. "So Jennifer Longworth and I spent a week taking Homeland Security Classes, which everybody has to take."
Mudd said that out of all the things that people sent to soldiers, the phone cards were the most appreciated, because the cards let military personnel keep in touch with their loved ones back home.
"We were really grateful to get them," he said. "It meant a lot to us.
