NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) – Julie Giorgi ran into the hangar, carrying a “Welcome Home” poster and searching desperately for her husband, Staff Sgt. James Giorgi. She spied him, swung wide of the crowd, jumped a piece of equipment and within an instant was in Giorgi’s arms, as he twirled her around and around and planted a long kiss on her lips.

The North Providence couple were together again.

“Just knowing he’s going to come home,” said Julie Giorgi, 30, describing her emotions leading up to her husband’s arrival. “He’s been great.”

After a 16-month deployment, including a year of battling insurgents in Iraq, 56 members of the 173rd Infantry Company of the Rhode Island National Guard returned on Saturday to a raucous hero’s welcome at the Quonset Air National Guard Base. The 173rd, which includes soldiers from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, completed its first tour in the war on terror with no deaths and no major casualties, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Mike McNamara. It won’t be called back for three years, he added.

Michael Duffy said he was proud of his cousin, Spc. Brian Morey, a 25-year-old from Tolland, Conn., despite his own reservations about the war in Iraq.

“I don’t believe what we’re doing in Iraq is right,” said Duffy, who’s 24 and lives in Stafford Springs, Conn., “but I believe in what our troops are doing.”

The Guard currently has 650 members deployed in six countries.

Returning soldiers said they were glad to be home, and reunited with family and friends. They spoke with pride about their mission, and believe they helped Iraq take steps toward a stable society and a democratic government.

“We worked very hard over there. We acted professionally,” said Spc. Justin Kelley, who lives in Boston and had finished his first tour

His sister, Leah, said she was overwhelmed with emotion about her younger brother, who enlisted after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“He realized he couldn’t let our country deal with that anymore,” said the 29-year-old from Weymouth, Mass. “He stepped up for his country.”

Hundreds of the returning troops’ families and friends gathered outside a hangar, bedecked with an arch of red, white and blue balloons. Many onlookers held posters with their loved ones’ names. Children perched on adults’ shoulders waved small American flags. The festive mood turned to cheers and ringing cowbells when the C-130 buzzed overhead, banked right and prepared to land. The cheers got even louder when the troops exited the plane, strode toward the crowd and gathered in formation.

McNamara said the 173rd, which was part of the 42nd Infantry Division, specialized in reconnaissance, surveillance and anti-insurgent operations primarily north and west of the capital Baghdad. The soldiers looked for insurgents planting what the military refers to as “improvised explosive devices,” or homemade bombs, or tried to catch them sneaking across the Iraq-Syria border.

It was “very dangerous duty,” McNamara said.

The Giorgis were married on Feb. 1, 2003, but have been apart longer than together since their wedding day. They plan to make up for lost time.

“It’s nice,” said James Giorgi, 31, of the welcome home affair, “But I just want to get home.”