AUGUSTA (AP) – Nearly two dozen soldiers with the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineering Battalion returned to Bangor early Friday afternoon, after more than a year in Iraq.

For the friends and family who planned to meet them, it wasn’t a moment too soon.

“It has felt like an eternity,” said Erika Williams, whose boyfriend, Sgt. Joseph Infante, was one of the soldiers who returned. “It’s amazing that I don’t have to look at a picture anymore, or have a phone or be in front of a computer.”

The 23 soldiers were deployed last May, separately from the rest of their battalion, to support a combat engineer battalion from Georgia, said Maj. Peter Rogers, Maine National Guard spokesman.

Several hundred people gathered in Bangor to greet the returning troops, Rogers said.

Brig. Gen. John “Bill” Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, welcomed the troops home, thanking them for their service and hard work, Rogers said. He also thanked the guard member’s families for the sacrifices they made over the past year.

“Anytime we have soldiers that have come back, it’s a really big event to see the guys,” Rogers said.

The troops flew to Bangor from Georgia, where they arrived on Monday. While in Iraq, their duties included constructing roads and buildings and doing some electrical wiring. They are not scheduled to deploy again in the near future, Rogers said, and will resume working at their regular jobs and serving their one-weekend-per-month Guard training.

Other members of the 133rd who deployed in January are scheduled to return from Iraq next April.