FORT STEWART, Ga. — Smiling faces and ‘welcome home’ signs waited for soldiers from Macon's 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team on Wednesday afternoon.
In a special 'Welcome Home Ceremony' at Fort Stewart, 170 soldiers were reunited with their family members, according to a release from the Georgia Department of Defense.
The soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan last year for six months to help train forces as part of Operation Resolute Support.
"Soldiers, we are so proud of you and all you have done on this deployment," Major General Tom Carden, Adjutant General of the Georgia National Guard, said at a welcome ceremony on Wednesday morning. "To the families, you do not hear it enough -- thank you for your sacrifice."
For some, this was their first time being deployed. Jeffery and Diamond Love say deployment is even tougher as a newlywed. The Loves got married in Sept. 2018.
"I’ve been missing her a lot this deployment so it was really my first time being away from her that long. So the longer we waited, the more special it was going to make this reuniting," Jeffery Love said.
Now that the soldiers are back, many of them are planning to spend some quality time with the ones they love.
“We just purchased a home, so we’re going to do a lot of decorating for the home and then the first week of August, we’ll be going to Vegas,” he said.
Wednesday afternoon's welcome marks the third and last ceremony this week and the fourth group of soldiers from the 48th Brigade to return. The first ceremony happened on Monday night and the second was early Wednesday morning.
Weather issues caused the welcome to be postponed for two days, but the soldiers finally got to come together with their loved ones at 2:30 p.m.
