Each man received a yellow rose as he deplaned, and then there were long hugs and deep kisses, handshakes and high fives as the 222nd's Charlie and Service Batteries reunited with loved ones under a perfectly blue sky over Cedar City.

"It's wonderful," said Artimesia Chappell of Cedar City as she clung to her husband, Cpl. Justin Chappell. "It's hard to believe, but it's wonderful."

The Utah National Guardsmen were the first from the 222nd, known as the Triple Deuce, to come home - just in time for Father's Day - from Camp Shelby, Miss., where they have spent the past several days demobilizing. The remainder - Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, and Alpha and Bravo Batteries - will arrive here over the next few days. About 30 men reboarded the plane to fly to the Guard's air base in Salt Lake City.

The Triple Deuce was activated in January 2005, first undergoing training in Mississippi and California before heading to Iraq a year ago. The unit was posted near the battle-scarred city of Ramadi, long a hotbed of insurgency.

There, the 222nd helped protect forward operating bases with artillery strikes, patrolled ammunition supply routes and had other security details. Some were quartered in buildings, others in tents - enduring searing heat, sandpaper wind and rain that left quagmires of mud.

They were greeted by Maj. General Brian Tarbet, commander of the Utah National Guard; Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert; Gen. Patrick Wilson; and two members of the Triple Deuce - Sgt. Dan Gubler and Cpl. Braxton McCoy, whose wounds brought them home early.

Gubler, of Ammon, Idaho, lost his left arm in a roadside explosion Nov. 16. McCoy, of Scipio, suffered broken legs, a broken arm, a shattered hand and head injuries in a Jan. 4 suicide bombing. It seemed as though every soldier wanted to shake their hands and pose for photos.

Gubler said he was elated to see his friends come home, "really happy."

Wilson, who commands all Guard artillery in Utah, was visibly proud of his men.

"They did a great job on a multitude of missions," he said.

During their time there, they continually upgraded their position, finding vulnerabilities and making vital improvements that will help the soldiers who follow them, the general said.

And all through the year, the women at home worked, tended to children and with the help of family kept their worlds together.

"I'm just nervous," said Misha Edwards, 25, of St. George, as she waited for her husband, Spc. Sam Edwards. "I don't know what to expect, but it will be something different from the last 18 months."

The key, she said, was keeping herself and three children busy. "I never thought it would end, and now it's shocking that this chapter is closing."

Now there will be time to take a few minutes to relax every now and then, Misha Edwards said, wiping tears away. "And someone to crawl into bed with at the end of the day."

Spc. Kris Jones of St. George had much the same thought. Now, he said, he plans to take a month off and "get to know my kids again, my wife again, and just relax."

The time in Iraq brought "some good times and some hard times," he said.

But being in the National Guard means a soldier is surrounded by the same men he works and trains with back home.

"If somebody had a hard day, there was somebody to help him," he said, and it will be the same when everyone gets back home.

One of those on hand to greet the troops was Phil Adrian of Enoch, a 63-year-old Army veteran and native New Yorker who retired to Las Vegas until he discovered southern Utah.

"We are all brothers," he said, "brothers and sisters."

pegmcentee@sltrib.com