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SALT LAKE CITY -- After serving a year-long tour in Iraq, 14 soldiers from the Utah National Guard are home. The group's arrival marks a major milestone because today is the first time since 9/11 that all of the Army guard units have been home.
The 14 soldiers who arrived today were welcomed home by dozens of family and friends. For many of them it was the first time they had seen their loved ones since being deployed to Iraq a year ago with the Utah National Guard's 128th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
Chera Wolf, a soldier's wife, said, "I'm am shaking. I'm so excited to have him home. I can't believe that he's finally coming home!"
Soldier Brock Jones said, "I've been waiting so long time to come back. And it's just hard to describe unless you've done it."
Soldier Kelly Collett said, "I'm excited to be a family again; to be home again, back on beautiful American soil, Utah and the mountains; to be able to get back to a normal life for a little bit."
And Robynn Houston, a soldier's wife said, "I can't control myself, I'm just shaking. It's great to have him home! So wonderful!"
Several of the soldiers were deployed just after a son or daughter was born. They were thrilled to see how much the children had grown since they were gone.
We especially liked the story with little Cherie Wolf who gave her dad a figurine of the Disney Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast. He carried it everywhere he went. Staff Sgt. Scott Wolf said, "So every mission, every helicopter ride, every convoy, every time I went out, every plane trip I took, I had Belle with me."
Wolf said everywhere he went, he took a photo of the princess and e-mailed it home to his daughter.
This group of soldiers has been providing public affairs support to coalition forces in Baghdad for the past year. They've been journalists, broadcasters, photographers, basically the men and women telling the stories of those serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While this is the final until to come home from Utah's Army National Guard, there are 150 individual soldiers still serving away from home.
Three other Guard units have come home this year. On Jan. 27, 31 guardsmen arrived home from a 10-month deployment in Afghanistan.
Those soldiers got to come home before the rest of their comrades in the 142nd Military Battalion, who arrived in Salt Lake a month later. There were a total of 291 soldiers in the unit.
They provided intelligence for coalition forces in Afghanistan.
One-hundred-fifty other troops came home in February. The Air Guardsmen spent a year in Iraq transporting personnel and equipment by helicopter.
Though all national guard units are back home, there are still 300 to 400 individual guard troops deployed throughout the region.
Story compiled with contributions from Keith McCord and Shara Park.
