After being apart for as long as 14 months, close to 100 Canadian soldiers have been reunited with their loved ones following a tour in Afghanistan.
The soldiers' plane touched down in Winnipeg around 2:00 a.m. Friday morning.
Forty of the troops carried on home to Edmonton, 28 boarded a bus headed for Canadian Forces Base Shilo, and 21 soldiers arrived at the Minto Armoury in Winnipeg, where their family members anxiously awaited their arrival.
Doug May's son, Cpl. Gord May, was on his first tour of duty and the proud father told CTV Winnipeg he has been counting down the days until his son's return.
"It's almost like being a kid counting how many more sleeps till Christmas," said May. "Well that's what it's been like for us, counting the sleeps until he's home and to see him step off that bus, that's his face."
Still the reunion is bittersweet for the soldiers and their families, because three of their comrades didn't make it home. Cpl. Andrew Grenon, Cpl. Mike Seggie and Pte. Chad Horn were killed in combat in Afghanistan Wednesday.
The soldiers were conducting a security patrol in Afghanistan's volatile Zhari district when they were ambushed by Taliban fighters.
Cpl. May was happy to see his family, but also carried the memory of his fallen fellow soldiers.
"It is difficult finding that out, especially knowing they these guys were so close to coming home," May told CTV Winnipeg. "I guess everyone starts to think it's almost over at that point and you're safe."
Cpl. Jean-Pierre Gosselin, who said he roomed with one of the fallen soldiers, told CTV Winnipeg he's glad to be back home.
"A lot of things I take for granted when I'm back here, I won't for a very long time," Gosselin said.
The troops and their families will get to spend a couple of days together before the soldiers head back to Shilo for some administrative work.
In about a week, reservists will go back to their lives, back at what they were doing before being deployed to Afghanistan.
The regular soldiers will get about a month-long vacation before heading back to work.
Meanwhile, the repatriation ceremony for the fallen Shilo soldiers is set for Saturday at CFB Trenton. A base official says the remains of are tentatively scheduled to arrive at 6 p.m. ET.
A ramp ceremony, attended by thousands of soldiers, was held Thursday at the Kandahar airfield.
