JEFFERSON CITY, MO -- The Missouri National Guard held a welcome home ceremony Sunday for Agribusiness Development Team three. They are back from Afghanistan where they helped Afghani's with farming
Cheers filled the air when nearly sixty army and National Guard members walked in the room for their welcome home ceremony.
One of the first to thank them for their duty was Gov. Jay Nixon.
"Soldiers and airmen of ADT3 on be half of the Show-Me-State, we salute you for a job well done. May God bless Missouri and may God bless the United States of America,” Gov. Nixon said.
During their deployment the Agribusiness Development Team worked to undo years of damage to Afghanistan’s agricultural and livestock infrastructure.
"They were working with Afghan villages and farmers to work on various agriculture products. Whether it was poultry, animal husbandry, taking care of their flocks of goats and sheep, increasing their wheat crop by fifty percent, irrigation, and solar wells, you name it if it had to do with farming they were into it," Missouri National Guard Adjutant General Steve Danner said.
Danner said that not all the soldiers got to attend the welcome home ceremony Sunday.
"We still have thirteen members from ADT3 at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. They helped ADT4 setup in Afghanistan before they came back,” Danner said. “So we'll have the rear party coming here on Wednesday, but they are back here in the states safe and sound."
The soldiers that were able to make it to the ceremony were thrilled to see their family and friends.
One soldier in particular finally got to hold something he has been waiting to hold for almost a year, his granddaughter.
"She was a week old when I finally got leave, but due to vaccinations we had to get to go over there I couldn't hold her. I got to see her, but I didn't get to hold her,” ADT3 Soldier Larry McNamar said. “So yeah, it's pretty nice to get to hold her now."
There were also families at the ceremony who were just so happy to see their love ones that they just couldn't hold back their tears.
"As one of my friends from church put it, it just can't come soon enough, because it was one hurdle after another. For us to be one as a family again, it's priceless it really is," Podorski Family said.
As the soldiers were dismissed they packed up their gear and headed home to spend time with their families and friends.
Missouri’s National Guard Adjutant General Steve Danner said that Agribusiness Development Team four relieved ADT3 of their duties and picked up where they left off in Afghanistan.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKRCG