(Radio Iowa) – Around 250 Iowa National Guard soldiers who have been deployed in the Middle East were welcomed home in ceremonies Wednesday in Sioux City and Des Moines. Fifty-nine of the soldiers from the Second Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division who were in Syria and Iraq landed in Sioux City. First Sergeant Cole Cooley from was Spencer was happy to finally be back in Iowa. “The trip back was a little bit hectic just because flights are always kind of on and off, which mixed in with our emotions, I would say, especially with the family,” he says. “Like even this morning, we were going to come home and then we weren’t for a little bit. So anticipation for families, it’s kind of surreal still. I think it takes a little bit to really set in that we’re actually home.”

Cooley serves with the 194th Field Artillery and was in Iraq since July. “We were at Al-Asad Air Base and we were actually responsible for closing down Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq. So it was really just cleaning up, making sure we got all the equipment out of there and then left it clean to hand over to the Iraqi Army,” Cooley says. Sergeant Cooley says it was emotional to get back after two Iowa Guard soldiers were killed in a terror attack in Syria. “Obviously December was a pretty sad month for us and I think when that happens it kind of makes it real for everybody, the risks and the dangers that we are and at points during our mission. But yeah, it’s definitely proud to take all of my soldiers home,” he says.

Cooley says he is looking forward to reconnecting with two members of his family he couldn’t talk to while he was overseas.”Dumb as it might sound to see my dogs, because I can’t talk to my dogs while we’re gone. Just emotions. I guess it’s hard to explain,” Cooley says.

Two other groups of soldiers returned to Des Moines. This is the first phase of the return of some 18-hundred soldiers who have been deployed.