WASHINGTON: Mothers cried and children squealed with delight as a company of US troops arrived back from Iraq on Saturday, after a year-long tour marked by desert heat and monotony.
A crowd of families roared as 124 soldiers from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, arrived marching in formation, part of a wave of homecomings as President Barack Obama scales back the US role in Iraq.
The welcoming ceremony at Fort Myer, outside Washington, was a joyous event for the soldiers and their loved ones after 12 months of separation, even if the legacy of the US invasion of Iraq remains a subject of bitter debate at home and abroad.
"It has been a very long year," said a tearful Charlotte Thompson, whose 25-year-old son had volunteered for the Iraq assignment.
The unit spent most of its time guarding a prison with about 300 Iraqi detainees in Taji, and carried out combat patrols as well, officers said.
The troops’ work in Iraq was a long way from their customary job as part a regiment known as "the Old Guard" in the US capital, where they perform ceremonial duties at funerals, visits by foreign dignitaries and other official events.
Specialist Charles Thompson said he was braced for a culture shock as he would soon be marching in honor cordons at the Pentagon and the White House.
"It’s really a big change," he told AFP. "I could do without the ceremonial stuff."
The company returned without any casualties, in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 US troops and with roughly 50,000 forces still on the ground facing lethal threats.
Thompson said he got used to the intense heat in Iraq, but the work was "kind of boring at some points," with troops playing basketball or video games to ease the monotony.
After spending the weekend with his family, Thompson will be returning to duty at Fort Myer, but said he was looking forward to a 30-day leave coming up soon.
He said he would head back home to northeastern Kentucky and "go fishing."
"I’ve been thinking about it for about 365 days," he said.
Unlike previous generations of warriors, these soldiers did not have to wait for letters from home but instead spoke directly via web video to their loved ones through laptops at their base in Iraq. Thompson’s mother said she was able to sleep a little better after her weekly chats by Skype with her son.
Jo Daniels, the mother of Sergeant John Rhoten, 28, watched her son come home Saturday from his third combat tour, and preferred not to "go into detail" about how she had worried during his deployment.
She said she avoids news reports about Iraq to keep her emotions in check while her son is away.
But she said hearing criticism and questioning of the war upsets her.
"They’re there to help the world in a special way," she said of the US troops in Iraq. "They need our support."
In a short ceremony before families were reunited with the soldiers, a chaplain offered a prayer that alluded to the difficulties many troops in the all-volunteer force face trying to cope with life outside the warzone.
He prayed that God "straighten their paths as they adjust to their new life at home."
Strolling arm-in-arm with their young wives who had dressed up for the big occasion, some of the smiling soldiers could have been mistaken for teenagers going to a school dance, except for their camouflage uniforms.
Specialist Jeremy Ingraham, 22, and his wife Tiffany, 19, got married about half-way through the unit’s deployment, during a two-week leave in December last year.
Ingraham said they planned to take their long-delayed honeymoon, a cruise through the Caribbean, now that he is back.
"Every minute that I was not on patrol or on mission, I was thinking about home."
