Pat Donahue, Coastal Courier

Nearly 80 3rd Infantry Division soldiers returned home to the warmth and humidity of south Georgia on Monday night – and to the warmth, hugs, and cheers of their families.

Soldiers from the 3rd ID’s 3rd Sustainment Brigade completed their nine-month deployment to Eastern Europe as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, marching across Cottrell Field before being released to a wave of oncoming loved ones.

Mike and Angela Hull came down from northern Michigan to greet their son, Sgt. Bretton Hull.

Despite their roots in one of the northernmost parts of the U.S., Mike Hull said he was acclimated to the weather – and the sand gnats. He was at Brunswick’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in the 1980s.

“I’m used to it,” he said.

Their son has been in the Army for eight years, and this now-concluded deployment was his third.

“I cannot wait,” Angela Hull said. “I’ve been waiting for so long.”

It’s also the first time the Hulls have seen a welcome home ceremony for one of Sgt. Hull’s returns from deployment.

The Hulls maintained contact throughout the deployment through calls and FaceTime. Sgt. Hull let his parents know when a package for him arrived.

“He would open it and show us, and that was great,” Angela Hull said.

The open communication lines and being able to talk frequently were “tremendous,” Angela Hull said.

“It was a game-changer. It really is,” she said.

Finally seeing his family in person, though, was a “long time coming,” Sgt. Hull said.

Sgt. Hull said now that he’s home, he’s looking forward to being with his family and being back Stateside.

“And have some good food again,” he said. “It’s good to be back.”

As part of Atlantic Resolve, the soldiers trained alongside NATO partners and helped buttress the organization’s flank as the Russia-Ukraine war continues.

“Standing before us are a group of people that raised their right hand and took an oath to answer the nation’s call,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Blanding, commander of the Division Sustainment Troops Battalion. “The nation called. They answered.”

Though they did not fight in a war, Lt. Col. Blanding said, their actions and presence helped deter one.

“Leave this field with your head held high and pride in what you have accomplished,” he told the soldiers.

There’s leave time upcoming for the returning soldiers, and for Hull, whose birthday is the first week of July, that will mean a trip back to Michigan. It also could lead to throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game, which he’s done before.

Sgt. Hull has an inside track to throwing out the first pitch – dad Mike works security for the Great Lakes Loons, a Single A franchise of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Midland, Michigan, not far from Saginaw Bay.

The Hulls also will get to show off a home they bought during their son’s deployment, one he’s never been inside.

“This will be a new home for him to come and visit,” Angela Hull said.

Maj. Aaron Lopez had his wife, Holly, and two sons, Joshua and Jonathan, eagerly greet him after the soldiers were released from formation. This deployment, Maj. Lopez said, was the longest he’s been away from his sons since they were born.

“I think they’re excited to have me back,” he said.

There is a first order of business for the Lopezes.

“He’s putting them to bed,” Holly said.