WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — Seventy members of the D.C. Army National Guard are back home safe with their families after serving a nearly year-long deployment to Afghanistan.

Relatives and friends let out a collective cheer as a ceremony marking the return of the 273rd Military Police Company came to a conclusion Tuesday morning.

Sergeant Darrel Cousar says the deployment gave him a new perspective on a lot of things.

“It made me appreciate my wife a lot more, and my kids,” he said.

Cousar’s 14-year-old son, Donyell, smiled as he recounted first seeing his dad for the first time in 10 months.

“He didn’t say nothing,” Donyell said. “He just hugged us.”

The soldiers provided security and personnel convoys while stationed at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

WNEW’s Kevin Patrick contributed to this report.