Service members return home to GA after 7 months overseas

Members of the 283rd Communications Squadron arrived home at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Friday after a 7-month tour overseas.

FOX 5 was there as the Air Force members received warm welcomes from their loved ones. They were greeted with lots of hugs, kisses, laughter and happy tears.

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"This has been the best feeling in the world," Allison Smith, of Cumming, told us. "It's been really hard, but I've learned a lot of life lessons. I'm so glad to have him home."

Smith's husband, Kyle Smith, was one of the many heroes who returned home on Friday.

Airman Darius Peterson II also had a huge smile on his face at the airport as he met his son, Darius Peterson III, for the first time.

"He keeps smiling at me like he knows me," Peterson told FOX 5. "Meeting my son for the very first time, it's surreal."

Peterson said he was very glad to be home.

Georgia's 283rd Combat Communications Squadron is a unit of the Georgia Air National Guard, which is based at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta.

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