Minutes after he stepped onto the tarmac at Corpus Christi International Airport, Texas Army National Guard Spc. Noe Garcia of Ben Bolt flipped open his cell phone and dialed.

Garcia and 94 fellow soldiers from the 386th Engineer Battalion of the Texas Army National Guard came home Saturday afternoon after more than a year in Iraq.

The battalion, which is responsible for conducting escorts, convoys and helping to train civilians and Army personnel, among other duties, was deployed to the Middle East in June 2004, Staff Sgt. Baldemar Gonzales said. They operated near Baghdad, he said.

Right before the plane touched down, Linda Hinojosa sat in the parking lot at the airport just so she could see for herself that her son, Spc. Roy Hinojosa was back safely on U.S. soil.

"I have been very scared," she said. "I could not watch the news because we did not know what was happening with him. Now he is going to be home."

Sgt. David Ruiz said he and some of his fellow soldiers tried to bring a little bit of South Texas while the battalion was in Iraq by making tortillas, menudo, enchiladas, and beans and rice.

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