Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Kristiona Miller, 7, is pleased with her special ride down the escalator on the shoulders of her uncle, Marine reservist Cpl. Scott Baker, of Monroeville, at Pittsburgh International Airport yesterday, when Cpl. Baker and 42 other Marines from Truck Company, 4th Marine Division, returned from Iraq. This was his third tour to Iraq. His wife, Vanessa, is at right, next to his sister, Dawn Baker. At left is Kristiona's mother, Christina Baker.

Trim and fit and dressed in desert fatigues, 43 Marine reservists of Truck Company, Fourth Marine Division disembarked yesterday through Gate A3 at Pittsburgh International Airport to the wide-open arms of parents and grandparents, spouses and children, relatives and friends.

All they did was come home -- and that was more than enough.

Based out of Erie and Ebensburg, Cambria County, the Marines had been deployed for seven months in Iraq. One reservist re-upped and stayed behind; six others who were injured returned separately.

This was the reservist company's fifth deployment to Iraq.

The troops flew commercial from California on Southwest Airlines. As the jet taxied to the gate, firetrucks shot streams of water in front of it as a ceremonial welcome.

On board, passengers were asked to let the soldiers disembark first. At the gate, red-coated airport personnel were overwhelmed by waiting families, many of whom were in tears knowing their boys were safe.

Soldiers broke into wide grins, squinting in the bright TV lights.

A mom rubbed her son's hand over and over, saying half to herself: "I'm so glad you're home. I'm so glad you're home."

The soldier's father, his own eyes misting, said gruffly, "You look like you got bigger."

The Scott Baker Sr. family of Tarentum has gotten used to these homecomings -- only son, Cpl. Scott Baker Jr., 24, returned yesterday from his third deployment -- but the waiting isn't any easier.

In 2003, they kept in touch by mail. In 2004, they used tape recordings. This year, they used VCR tapes.

"That was our standing joke," Mr. Baker said, "that next time he goes over, we'll do DVDs. But there's not going to be a next time."

The corporal's three sisters were at the gate, along with his wife, mother, father and 7-year-old niece, Kristiona. She carried a sign reading: "Welcome Home, Uncle Buddy."

His wife, Vanessa Baker, 23, has managed the absences well, given that for more than two-thirds of her marriage, her husband has been either in training or in Iraq.

"I knew what I was getting into when he missed my senior prom," she said. "But as long as I know I'm going to grow old with him, that's all that matters."

Cpl. Baker said he would not deploy a fourth time.

Millie Moriarity made the three-hour drive from her home in Winburne, Clearfield County, to welcome home her grandson, Lance Cpl. Brock Perks. She has five other grandchildren, but wondering about the welfare of Cpl. Perks was particularly hard.

"I'm always the one who wants to watch CNN and the other news networks," she said.

Her grandson escaped injury during his deployment. But Friday, the family received a call from him at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where the reservists had been cooling their heels since Thursday. He'd suffered a cracked collarbone in a car accident.

For Lance Cpl. Jon Jamison, of Latrobe, yesterday was his first chance to meet his 7-month-old daughter, Erin Allison. The experience was so new for the 23-year-old that he had to ask a family member whether his daughter's name had one "L" or two.

"You never really get used to it," the corporal's father, Joseph Jamison, said while walking with his son to claim one of the dozens of look-alike green duffle bags at the baggage carousel.

"You spend every day waiting for the phone to ring," he said as he watched his son cradle his daughter, and Mr. Jamison's first grandchild.

"We're very proud of him."