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Alexander was waiting when James White stepped off the bus at Haymarket Park on Thursday completing his long journey home from Iraq.

"I've Waited All My Life to Meet You," read the sign attached to Alexander as he rested in the arms of his mother, Sara White.

Alexander was born April 25 while his father and about 90 other Nebraska National Guard soldiers were in the midst of their nine-month deployment in Iraq playing a hand in the dramatic, and perhaps historic, victory that finally drove Islamic State forces from the battered city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

So, what do you think, James?

Edward, 7, and William, 4, make a family of five.

"Look There is My Father!" shouted Edward's sign.

As the Omaha couple, both 27, hurried to their seats at the ballpark for a welcome home ceremony, James White said he had a single goal in mind.

"I want to go home," he said.

Capt. Steve Preston gets reacquainted with his son Tommy as his wife Amber looks on at a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln on Thursday for about 90 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers, members of the 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post-Operational Detachment, who had met their families for the first time after spending the past nine months deployed in Iraq.

First Lt. Kevin Rose (right) gets help carrying his gear from wife Paula and sons Noah (left) and Caiden (second right) following a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday.

Teagan Quinn, 3, sits between her mother Alisa Quinn and father Sgt. Taylor Quinn, all from Loup City, during a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday, for about 90 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers, members of the 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post-Operational Detachment, who met their families for the first time after spending the last nine months deployed in Iraq.

Gov. Pete Ricketts greets Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers as they get off a bus to a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday.

Captain Steve Preston is greeted by his daughter Emily as he holds his son Tommy at a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday for about 90 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers, members of the 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post-Operational Detachment, who had met their families for the first time after spending the last nine months deployed in Iraq.

Bella Preister of Omaha hugs her father, Major Jeremy Preister, as he steps off a bus for a welcoming ceremony at Haymarket Park on Thursday.

Capt. Steve Preston gets reacquainted with his son Tommy as his wife Amber looks on at a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln on Thursday for about 90 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers, members of the 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post-Operational Detachment, who had met their families for the first time after spending the past nine months deployed in Iraq.

First Lt. Kevin Rose (right) gets help carrying his gear from wife Paula and sons Noah (left) and Caiden (second right) following a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday.

Teagan Quinn, 3, sits between her mother Alisa Quinn and father Sgt. Taylor Quinn, all from Loup City, during a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday, for about 90 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers, members of the 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post-Operational Detachment, who met their families for the first time after spending the last nine months deployed in Iraq.

Gov. Pete Ricketts greets Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers as they get off a bus to a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday.

Captain Steve Preston is greeted by his daughter Emily as he holds his son Tommy at a welcoming ceremony in Lincoln Thursday for about 90 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers, members of the 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post-Operational Detachment, who had met their families for the first time after spending the last nine months deployed in Iraq.

Bella Preister of Omaha hugs her father, Major Jeremy Preister, as he steps off a bus for a welcoming ceremony at Haymarket Park on Thursday.

Life goes on while soldiers are gone, but it isn't all joyous.

Samuel Crane, 22, of Lincoln returned to a changed family dynamic, too.

"We lost his father in the middle of it," his mother, Susan Crane, said. "It was sudden, unexpected."

Samuel returned briefly for the funeral.

His mom and sister Anna, 13, and brother Zachary, 16, were at the ballpark to greet him for this homecoming.

"It felt like it was not as exciting in the house while he was gone," Anna said.

"I'm very, very proud of him," his mother said. "I feel like they really accomplished something."

The Crane family said Samuel already had signaled the first thing he wanted when he got home.

"He said he wanted to take a nap," Anna said.

The return of the Lincoln-based Army National Guard headquarters detachment reduces current Nebraska deployment numbers to about 50 Guard personnel at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and "a handful" of Air National Guard airmen, according to Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, Nebraska's adjutant general.

The troops who returned Thursday "helped manage the fight" in Mosul, Bohac said.

The 1st Infantry Division Main Command Post Operational Detachment includes specialists in such fields as intelligence, infantry, artillery, aviation, signal, engineering, logistics and chemical, as well as legal affairs, military police, administration and public affairs.

The unit was formed in the spring of 2016 and participated in several major training exercises with active Army counterparts at Fort Riley, Kansas, before being mobilized last August.

The soldiers arrived on buses at Haymarket Park, traveling beneath a huge U.S. flag hoisted atop the ladders of two fire engines and preceded by a motorcycle police escort.

"We're glad to have you back in Nebraska," Gov. Pete Ricketts said in leading the welcoming ceremonies from the field at the ballpark on a cloudy, breezy July day.

"Thank you for the courage to stand up for your country," he said, and for your "willingness to put yourself in a position of danger to fight our enemies."

And speaker after speaker thanked the families, too.

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'I've Waited All My Life' as Guard members return from Iraq - Lincoln Journal Star