(Des Moines, IA) -- Loved ones of hundreds of Iowa National Guard soldiers were on hand in Des Moines to welcome them back from their deployment in the Middle East.
Families and friends brought signs, balloons and gifts for the soldiers who came home Wednesday.
Jason Harris says his son and daughter-in-law were mobilized for nine months, which required a certain mindset.
"Thinking about the good things, not thinking about the potential of the bad things. Just taking every chance we could to talk to them and make sure they were doing okay. And they made sure we were doing okay," Harris said.
Harris says they are excited for them to get home and return to their lives.
The Iowa National Guardsmen who returned home were with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. A Welcome Home Ceremony was also held for soldiers in Sioux City.
They were part of the same mission as Staff Sergeants Edgar Torres Tovar of Des Moines and Nate Howard of Marshalltown, who were killed in Syria last December in an ISIS attack.
Governor Kim Reynolds paid tribute to Torres Tovar and Howard during the Welcome Home Ceremony.