Bangor - 75 soldiers with the Maine Army National Guard are home, after spending nearly a year in Kuwait.

The members of Charlie Company 126th Aviation arrived in Bangor Friday afternoon.


The soldiers have had about 20 minutes for hugs and kisses, but it still needs some time to sink in.

" You dream about this a lot when you're gone and you wake up and you're still in Kuwait or wherever you are, and so this hasn't really sunk in that we're actually home yet," said Abel Gleason, a blackhawk pilot with Charlie Company 126th Aviation.

Abel Gleason is a blackhawk pilot, home now from his first deployment. Serving the country runs in Gleason's family.

" My dad,my granddad, all three of my uncles, my mother, and my sister," said Gleason.

His homecoming is something his family would never miss.

" Come hell or high water were were going to be here at 13:50 today, " said Gleanson's dad, Michael Gleason, a retired member of the Air Force.

For Sgt. Josh Heckard, the homecoming arrives on an extra-special day; his niece, Mya, turns 3.

" She's been talking about it non-stop ever since I've been gone, so it's pretty exciting," said Heckard.

While in Kuwait they went on more than 1,200 missions, now their mission is to enjoy being home.

Sadly, not every member of the 126th returned home. Staff Sgt. Jessica Wing, a Glenburn native who served as a helicopter crew chief, died in August.

The defense department still has not released details about Wing's death, except to say that it was non-combat related.

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