Army Reserve Specialist Chris Taylor answered the call like so many service people have.

When his country needed drivers to move heavy military machinery out of Iraq last summer, he and others put their civilian lives on hold, donned their military fatigues, and left their families behind.

For Taylor, a father of four who drove tanker trucks for a living, it was simple.

"It was my obligation. It was part of my contract. I was ordered to do something and I did it," said Taylor.

It was perilous work. Militants sometimes took parting shots at the Americans once called Iraq's liberators.

"If you have breakdowns, you're stuck on the road until the vehicle is actually fixed or you pull it up onto a recovery vehicle and get out of there," Taylor recalled. "You can be just like a sitting duck for three hours or nine hours."

For months, he had one overarching goal: to come home in one piece and see his children.

So when Taylor's driver's license expired on his 39th birthday in October, renewing it on time was the last thing on his mind.

"I thought when I came home, I'd have a few weeks to spend with my family and return to work," he said.

Instead, he learned how difficult it can be for a soldier to readjust to the life he or she leaves behind.

"There's a lot of us soldiers, we came home with our heads held high, just to come home and lose it all," he said.

After six months of deployment, he returned in December determined to go back to work.

To do that, though, he needed his fully endorsed class A commercial license.

But under tough new laws enacted after terrorists - several with Florida's driver's licenses - struck the United States in 2001, he needed to prove his citizenship to the motor vehicles office because he was born in Canada.

His passport was expired and when he applied for a new one his problems compounded.

"I was told I was denied because I was in arrears on child support," said Taylor.

But Taylor and his estranged wife both said he was paying all the support he was ordered to pay - even while he was in Iraq. Court records confirmed his payments.

He appealed to the driver's license office, the state Department of Revenue, and the court clerk - but no one would inform the U.S. State Department that he was paying all the required child support.

He had a job waiting for him, but without his license, could do nothing but grow frustrated.

"My soon-to-be-ex wife depends on my child support just to cover what she does for the kids and put a roof over their heads," he said.

Without a job, though, child support would be impossible.

"I am looking at losing my apartment and having my truck repossessed," added Taylor.

"I've talked to everybody I can talk to," he said last week. "I don't know who else to go to."

After contacting Local 6, we alerted the state Department of Revenue in Tallahassee and, within hours, Taylor was told the hold on his passport would be lifted.

Tuesday he received his new passport and Wednesday he will be among the first in line to get a driver's license.