Pvt. Tommy Maddox’s eyes said it all. Bloodshot and brimming with tears, Maddox, a gunner in the 82nd Airborne Division, saw his 5-week-old daughter, Jasmine, for the first time, Wednesday.

 
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
More than 360 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division return to Pope Air Force Base's Green Ramp on Wednesday morning.

With callused hands and Kosovo dirt beneath his nails, Maddox held his sleeping daughter as if she were a piece of fine china.

‘‘She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life,’’ the 21-year-old said.

He is one of 360 paratroopers from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment who returned Wednesday after a five-month deployment to Albania and Kosovo.

The soldiers were part of a 700-member, 82nd task force that provided force protection for Apache helicopters and crews in Albania and peacekeeping operations in Kosovo.

The rest of the task force is scheduled to return on Saturday.

Replacements sent        |
The soldiers have been replaced by a task force from the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. About 620 soldiers from the 504th deployed Sept. 9 and 13 for six months of duty.

On Wednesday, the lucky ones marched off the flight line after a 14-hour flight to cheers, balloons, camera flashes and homemade welcome-home banners at Pope Air Force Base’s Green Ramp.

On June 13, the soldiers were the first American troops to enter Kosovo. Their job was to try to secure law and order in a place where none had existed. Gunfire, land mines, looting and house fires were a part of daily life.

And through it all, Lily Flores told her three children that their dad, Spc. Roy Flores was at work.

She constantly showed her 2-year-old son, Luke, pictures of his dad. ‘‘He’s so young; I’m afraid he won’t remember him,’’ she said.

Practically since the day soldiers deployed in April, mothers have had their children looking forward to the day when their dads would return.

 
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Sgt. David Torres, with B Co. 3rd./505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, shares a moment with three of his four children. Selina, 8, left, Johnathan, 6, and Nashalee, 3, made shirts that read 'Torres my daddy's Back.'
And in preparation for the big day: ‘‘They actually cleaned their rooms without me yelling,’’ Flores said.

After a brief speech, families heard the long-awaited words: ‘‘Fall out.’’

As families found each other and embraced, single soldiers went back outside for a smoke.

Next to missing their husbands, wives said the toughest part of the deployment was being mother and father to the children. ‘‘I’m going on vacation,’’ joked Shantel Torres, surrounded by her children ages 8, 6, 3 and 2. ‘‘He thinks he’s had it hard.’’

Sgt. David Torres’ children welcomed him home wearing white T-shirts with a photo of him on guard duty in Albania printed on the front and ‘‘My Daddy’s Back,’’ on the back.

Next to spending time with his family, Torres is looking forward to trading in his rifle for a baseball bat.

Coming off a deployment, nothing is taken for granted.

‘‘The refrigerator, the TV, the couch. You appreciate everything,’’ Torres said.