GREER, S.C. — Just in time for the holiday season, a group of Army reservists has returned home, bringing joy and relief to their families in South Carolina. After a lengthy 10-month deployment in the Middle East, these soldiers received a warm and heartfelt welcome.

The anticipation was palpable at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, where a crowd gathered inside a cargo hangar, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their loved ones. Friends and family counted down the minutes, their excitement and nervousness building with every passing second.

Megan Foster, whose child is among the returning reservists, expressed her mixed emotions, saying, “I’m overjoyed. I’m just really a ball of nerves right now.” Her sentiment echoed the collective feeling of relief and joy shared by many in the crowd.

Angela Cothran, another family member, couldn’t contain her happiness. “Our sons are coming home, and it’s been a long ten months for me,” she shared, her anticipation clear. “So glad to see him, and I am going to give him the biggest hug ever.”

These returning heroes are part of the 323rd Engineer Company, a U.S. Army Reserve Unit. Over 100 soldiers made their way back, each greeted with open arms and an outpouring of gratitude from those who have missed them dearly.

“Today is an incredible welcome home ceremony for our unit. We’ve been deployed to the [U.S. Central Command] region in the Middle East for the past ten months, and we just got home today. So just in time for Christmas,” said Unit Commander David Cline said. “[It was] a lot of travel, a lot of flying, a lot of, sleeping on the ground to get here. It’s a journey.”

The unit, made up of soldiers from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama was stationed in Kuwait, but conducted missions across the region.

Cline told Nexstar’s 7NEWS it was the unit’s first deployment in over 10 years.

“We were operating in multiple countries in the middle east. We’re a route clearance unit, so we have very heavy equipment, heavy trucks. We also do construction, and we were in multiple countries across the whole region,” he added. “It’s a real honor to do what we did, and then to come home to this type of reception with our friends, family, loved ones. Just in time for Christmas.”

As for what the reservists plans are?

“[I will] go out to dinner, have a good time, catch up,” Foster said.

Family members said they plan to savor the holiday with their loved ones.

“Find out what all the little things that happened over there,” Cothran added, “And cherish this Christmas because maybe next Christmas, they may be deployed again. So, I’m really going to enjoy this one.”

The Spartanburg-based reserve unit operated alongside units from the Army Reserve, National Guard, and active-duty Army during their deployment.