Hundreds of family members, friends, supporters and well-wishers assembled at Stout Field in Indianapolis on Tuesday afternoon to welcome home the 38th Infantry Division's 1538th Transportation Company of Elkhart, Ind.

Among the soldiers returning home was 1st Sgt. Jeffrey Spencer, a resident of Westport. Following a year’s worth of work in Iraq, Spencer was welcomed back.

Around 160 members of the 1538th have been serving at Camp Taji, Iraq for the past year, providing convoy security, transportation and civil affairs support all around Iraq.

“It was a little bit longer than I expected it to be,” Jennifer Gorsuch,

the wife of Staff Sgt. Michael Gorsuch, a squad leader with 1st Platoon of the 1538th and a native to Elkhart, explained. His son, Owen, was around a year and a half old when he departed the country, and Gorsuch said that he'd grown quite a bit and had even come in his own miniature uniform to greet his father.

Capt. Phillip Anderson, company commander said the deployment was just another segment in the legacy of the Indiana National Guard in Iraq.

“(This was) a successful mission, more proof that American soldiers, citizen soldiers, can get the job done,” Anderson said.

Anderson noted that families deserved much of the credit for the success of the 1538th.

“I just can't thank all the people now, the community, the family readiness group, there are so many,” Anderson explained. “But I need to thank them all, personally if I can.”

The 1538th will spend the better part of the next week in demobilization

processing at Camp Atterbury before returning home to their families for well-earned leave and a well-deserved vacation.

Information provided by U.S. National Guard Spec. Austen Hurt