COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Friends and family gathered on Post Friday morning to welcome home another wave of Fort Carson soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
Around 300 soldiers from the Raider Brigade returned around 10 a.m. Friday.
A sense of pride filled the gym as friends and family members waited to be reunited with their loved ones.
"I was shaking. It's really hard, you want to run out there and just grab him," Ashley Harris, wife of a soldier, said.
Soldiers said it's a relief to be home and back with their families.
"It feels great. I've been waiting all year just to get back and be with my wife again," Spc. Jose Lara said.
For some this was their first deployment and first welcome home ceremony. For others, like Sfc. Jason Mavroamatis, who just returned from his fifth deployment, it's just part of the routine.
"Just have more kids, that's it, just one more kid to say hi to," Mavroamatis said.
A second wave of approximately 200 soldiers will return to Fort Carson in another ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday.
The third wave of soldiers will greet family and friends Monday at 4 a.m.
During their time overseas the Raider Brigade focused on eliminating insurgency strongholds in Afghanistan and helped prepare Afghan forces to over a leadership role in the country.
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