Oklahoma Soldiers Return Home From Afghanistan

Zola Bombuku is a soldier's wife on a mission - to find her husband in the Tulsa airport. That's important - because she's been looking - and waiting seven months for him to come home.

He commanded a team from the Tulsa district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Other families were waiting for the soldiers - five members of the 59th Field Engineering Support team. Their mission, with most of the time spent at the Kandahar Air Base - was to help smooth the transition from NATO command to the Afghani Army, according to their department head back in Tulsa.

"The end state of the mission is to get out of Afghanistan with our mission and get everything ready for whoever takes over that mission with the properties left behind," said William Smiley, U.S. ArmyCorpss of Engineers Tulsa District.

The soldier's plane was a few minutes late, but once they came in - the families didn't seem to mind.

Sergeant Fredderick Bombuku said it was good to be home with his wife.

"The very first thing is to relieve her on duty. I'm not taking charge, but she needs to take a break. It was a very long summer for her," he said.

Soldiers volunteer to serve - and their families do too.

"I missed him, counted the days, but it's given me a lot of empathy for our military families who have soldiers go multiple times," said Cheryl Davidson, soldier's wife.

There are two more team members from the Army Corps still at work there helping wrap up the job in Afghanistan.