JBLM soldiers back home for the holidays

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  Today's holiday is a bit brighter for families of local soldiers, who returned home Sunday,  just in time for Christmas.



Huge hugs all around at this big reunion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Loved ones so happy to see about 160 soldiers of the 5th battalion, 3rd field artillery regiment, after they served nine months in places like Iraq and Jordan.



"You hear the emotion.  You see it,” Said Isiah Candelario who returned from a nine-month deployment. “It's big you know.  Everybody gets teary-eyed.  I know y'all are tough guys.  You're not gonna believe that."

"That's my baby.  And he turned 21 while he was over there and it's, it's been hard.  But I'm glad he's home," said Pamela Long who reunited with her son.

Margaret Klug came to welcome her husband home. "It was probably one of the happiest moment in my life.  I was so energetic.  But I couldn't hold it in no more."

Wayne Klug was happy to be back home. "But, as soon as I saw the curtain go up, I was like, 'This is for real.  I'm home.'

"It's gonna be awesome.  This is the best Christmas ever," said Lisa Reyes, who was reunited with her husband.

The soldiers served at 12 locations in five different nations, and fired more than 15-hundred rockets, in operations against ISIS forces.