WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) -- Just hours after they arrived home from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan the clock struck midnight, and soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Apache Company of the 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, gathering at their local bar, Fat Boys, hugged each other, shouting "Happy New Year" and "I love you." Amidst the celebration stood Olivia Nammack, 26, and her husband Spc. Don Johnson, 28, locked in a kiss and a long embrace. Nammack felt "relaxed for the first time in 12 months and just so happy," she said later. The 2/87, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y., represented U.S. forces' first major push into Logar and Wardak provinces in Afghanistan, where heavy anti-coalition resurgence helped make last year the worst for deaths among NATO forces since the war began in 2001. A year later, the troops' return home has brought myriad emotions as they readjust to normal life.(17 images)
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Natalie Pickett, 23, left, kisses her husband, Sgt. Paul Pickett, 23, on Dec. 31, as his unit, the U.S. Army's Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, returns to Fort Drum., N.Y., after a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. The Picketts are from Minden, La. AP / David Goldman
Sgt. Sam Garvin, 22, of Middleburg, Fla., right, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, embraces his father Sam Garvin Sr. in Fort Drum, N.Y. on Dec. 31, after being surprised with a 2003 Ford Mustang upon his platoon's return from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Christian Jimenez, left, celebrates his 22nd birthday at a restaurant in Watertown, N.Y. on Dec. 30, after being serenaded by fellow soldiers of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, from right, Staff Sgt. Cody Collins, 25, Olivia Nammack, 26, and Sgt. Daniel Shank, 25, after the platoon returned from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Olivia Nammack, 26, center left, embraces her husband, Spc. Don Johnson, 28, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, at the stroke of midnight at Fat Boys, a bar in Watertown, N.Y. on Jan. 1, as they celebrate New Year's Eve together on the day his platoon returned from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Sgt. Paul Pickett, 23, right, of the U.S. Army's Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, receives a pedicure in Watertown, N.Y. on Jan. 3 , along with his wife Natalie Pickett, 23, after his unit returned from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Spc. Todd Beatty, 30, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, looks out the window of his barracks in Fort Drum, N.Y. on Jan. 1, after his platoon's return from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Staff Sgt. Cody Collins, 25, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, tries to figure out which mailbox is his, after moving into an apartment complex in Evans Mills, N.Y. on Dec. 31after his platoon's return from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
First Lt. Mark Hogan, 24, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, passes the time by doing aa handstand, while waiting with his girlfriend Liz Hacker, 24, in Sackets Harbor, N.Y., for the moving company to show up as Hogan moves into his new apartment, the day his platoon returned from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Spc. Mike Schmidt, 23, center, sits in the living room of his home along with his wife Jackie Scmidt, 24, left, his step-daughter Ariana and dog Colby in Watertown, N.Y. on Jan. 3, two days after Schmidt's platoon returned from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. AP / David Goldman
Spc. Gary Galland, 23, right, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, gets a tattoo finished at the Empyre Tattoo parlor in Carthage, N.Y. on Jan. 3. Galland started the tattoo before he deployed to Afghanistan. His wife Rianne Galland, 20, sits nearby. AP / David Goldman
Pfc. Daniel Neer, 20, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, talks about the shrapnel that pierced his throat from an improvised explosive device blast while he was deployed in Afghanistan. Neer had just returned to Fort Drum, N.Y. on Jan. 3. AP / David Goldman
Spc. Christian Jimenez, 21, of Elizabeth, N.J., of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., walks past a tent on Combat Outpost Tangi in Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 17, 2009. AP / David Goldman
A man and young boy walk by Pfc. Mike Schmidt, 22, of Brunswick, Maine, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., during a patrol in the Tangi Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 16, 2009. AP / David Goldman
Spc. Paul Pickett, 22, of Minden, La., left, attends to Pfc. James Gordon, 20, of Texas, both of the U.S. Army's Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., after Gordon sustained leg injuries when the armored vehicle he and six others were riding in hit an improvised explosive device in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 19. AP / David Goldman
Pvt. Caven Cox, right, of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment performs a rendition of the song "I'm a Little Tea Pot" in front of his platoon, as penalty for making a mistake on a recent patrol at Combat Outpost Tangi in Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 15, 2009. AP / David Goldman
Staff Sgt. Cody Collins, 25, of Joy, Ky., of the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., finds a trigger wire for a roadside bomb during a patrol in the Tangi Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. AP / David Goldman
From left to right, Spc. Kevin Anderson, 22, of San Diego, Calif., Pvt. Caven Cox, and Pfc. Mike Schmidt, 22, of Brunswick, Maine., all from the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., look at photos of the aftermath of a roadside bomb explosion that killed Sgt. Jerry Evans, on Aug. 7 at Combat Outpost Tangi in the Tangi Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. AP / David Goldman
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