VOLK FIELD -- Jennifer Huff and her three children all stood bundled against the early-morning cold Saturday, ice crunching beneath their feet, watching as the plane swooped out of the pre-dawn darkness, red and white lights shimmering, an engine's roar, soldiers coming home from Kuwait on Veterans Day.

The kids -- Natalee, 7, Noah, 5, and Jordan, 3 -- wore snow boots and snow pants, and "Welcome Home Daddy" sweat shirts. And Jennifer Huff held a sign for her husband to see, the man she called "Huffster."

One by one the tired soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 128th Infantry trooped by, searching the crowd. And when soldiers and families made eye contact, they peeled away from the ropes, until there were just a few families and soldiers still to be reunited.

Jennifer Huff, a gloved hand patting her mouth, tears welling in her eyes, told the kids their daddy was coming home but looked a little like a tourist searching a baggage carousel for a piece of luggage she knew was lost.

And then she saw him. And so did the kids. And Jennifer Huff started yelling, her voice cutting through the air.

"Huffster," she shouted. "Huffster."

And now Sgt. Tracy Huff of Mukwonago walked past the rope line and made a U-turn and met his wife, and his kids, and took them in his arms, one by one, showering them with kisses.

"Been gone a year," Tracy Huff said. "It's just awesome to be back."

From World War I to the war on terror, America's battles have been waged in different places and different eras.

But the homecomings don't change, much.

They're still filled with love, pride and relief.

Long mission, long year

Especially on Veterans Day, when a plane touches down in Wisconsin at 3:55 a.m., when weary troops arrive home for Thanksgiving, home for Christmas.

It was a long mission, a long year in Kuwait, where the troops helped protect desert bases.

And now, 154 soldiers were out of the desert, off a 24-hour flight from Kuwait to Hungary to Ireland to Bangor, Maine, to Volk Field in west-central Wisconsin and into a late-autumn chill, a light coating of snow on the grass and ice patches on the tarmac.

And then they all moved inside a hangar to swap hugs and stories, drink hot cider and hot coffee and eat cheese curds and glazed doughnuts as a military brass band played.

Peter A. Kramer, 64, stood with his sons, Staff Sgt. Peter T. Kramer, 44, and Spc. Theron Kramer, 24. The Kramers are from Delafield, and the father owns a furniture repair business in Pewaukee.

Peter A. Kramer's war was Vietnam -- it said so right on his Vietnam Veterans' cap. He was there in 1968, a draftee.

"I'm choked up," the father said, looking at his sons, members of an all-volunteer force.

They talked a little about the Iraq war. They want to see the mission properly completed.

"I just hope all this isn't for nothing," said the oldest son, Peter T. Kramer.

And the father said, "That would be the worst of it -- war for nothing."

The simple pleasures

In another part of the crowded hangar, Sgt. Jay Graff, 41, a telephone repairman from Waupun, stood with friends and his sister and reveled in the simple pleasure of being in America. His unit was deployed nine days before he was due to retire from the National Guard.

"Hopefully, in March, I'll hang up my boots and bronze them," he said.

He's eager to get back to his job, eager to restore some cars he has in a garage, a 1953 Cadillac limousine and a 1963 Coupe de Ville.

But first, he'll head south for a vacation.

"I want to hang out with Jimmy Buffett," he said. "I want to go to Margaritaville, where it's 5 o'clock all the time."

Graff's war was over. A veteran was home.