Even as much of our nation's attention has now shifted to the war in Afghanistan, there's still a war going on in Iraq.
About 150 Marines from MCAS Cherry Point are now back in the east after spending six months in Al Asad, Iraq.
Nine On Your Side’s Philip Jones has more on their homecoming in a story you will only see on WNCT:
As their EA-6B prowlers passed overhead Wednesday afternoon, the men and women of cherry point's VMAQ-4 gave their friends and family a taste of what their last six months in Iraq looked like.
And while that's all well and good, it’s the reunions on the ground that everyone gathered here had been waiting for.
“Oh, my goodness -- it's amazing,” Sarah Gates said after her husband, Maj. Todd Gates, returned home. “I can't wait for us to get home and kinda get back into the routine, the swing of things and get back to the way things should be.”
With two young children, Sarah had her hands full while waiting for her husband.
Todd says he's looking forward to spending time with his wife and kids -- especially their nine-month-old daughter who was born just before he left.
“I have not, unfortunately, gotten the chance to know her yet,” Maj. Gates said. “So I'm looking very forward to getting to know her a lot. I got to use Skype while we were over there, but I still don't have the human element of holding her and touching her. So I’m looking forward to that, very much so.”
These Marines provided air support to protect convoys and troops on the ground.
And while the nation may now have shifted its focus to Afghanistan, they say the job in Iraq isn't over.
“There's still work to do over there, as long as there are coalition troops -- especially Marines -- over there,” Maj. Gates said. “So, hey, if they tell us to deploy to Iraq again, we'll go.”
And all the while, they’ll hope for more happy homecomings like this one.
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