NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Dozens of Las Vegas families had counted down the days and their long-anticipated reunion with loved ones -- serving in Iraq -- finally arrived Wednesday night.
Seventy-one airmen from the 66th Rescue Squadron and the 763rd Rescue Maintenance Squadron are once again on American soil and away from danger after serving bravely in Iraq.
"Your country called on you. You performed a mission. You performed your job and just getting home, knowing your loved ones, your family, are waiting for you," 763rd Maintenance Squadron Commander Major Lou Cumming said.
Matthew Gouveia with the Combat Rescue Unit was elated to see his wife Julie and 6-year-old daughter Summer.
"It felt really good seeing the family and the rest of the rescue community," he said.
The reunion was a surprise for his daughter who didn't know her father would be coming home.
"I told her we had to come on base. Once we got in the parking lot, she saw the plane and everything, and she said, 'Did Daddy land?'" Julie Gouveia said. "I had to tell her. I couldn't say no."
"I felt really happy," Summer added. "We're going to go home and have some chocolate cake."
The heartfelt reunions occurred throughout the evening. Captain Benjamin Buchta was overjoyed to see his wife Camilla and his daughters Ismylah and Elliana.
"I found out I was pregnant when he was gone," Camilla said.
These men and women had important roles in a war that's now ending.
"Our job is personal recoveries, going out to help anyone that's injured or hurt, or isolated that needs help, so we can bring them back for medical care and for integration back into the forces," Captain Buchta said.
When Operation Iraqi Freedom began in February 2003, these squadrons were the first to go into Iraq for personal recovery and combat search and rescue.
Nine years later, they are the last ones out of Iraq.
