As Bravo Battery soldiers return to Longview over the next few weeks, some of them will be greeted by more than just overjoyed families. They’ll will find their lawns mowed and their yards neatly maintained.

Dan Rennells, owner of Beyond Landscape in Longview, has been mowing the lawns of three Bravo Battery families for the last six months for free.

“It’s the least I can do for the troops,” Rennells, 31, a Toutle resident, said this week

Rennells owns Beyond Landscape, a Longview firm that services residential and commercial properties.

Vanessa Hunter, local leader of Family Readiness Group, a support program for families of military personnel, opened the phone book and contacted local landscapers to see who would be willing to mow the lawns for military families without charging.

“He was one of the only people willing to do it for free,” Hunter said. “He has great employees. They are very professional. He has been nothing but a pleasure to work with.”’

Rennells shrugs off any attention.

“It’s no big deal for us. Sometimes you have the opportunity, and it doesn’t take too much time or money,” Rennells said at the home of one of the families. “It’s our way of giving back.”

Rennells is a full-time Longview firefighter. He used to leave his family for up to three weeks at a time to fight wildfires. That experience, Rennells said, helps him “understand a little about what the families are feeling.”

“When you own a company, you want to do these kind of things, you just hope you have time.”