Over 200 men and women from the 148th Fighter Wing who spent three months deployed to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan have returned to the Northland.

Early Monday morning, the plane arrived at the base. Loved ones waited patiently to reunite in the frosty air. Tim Johnson, a 3rd grader in Duluth, held a sign that read, “I’ve waited 110 days to hug my daddy.”

The Clancey boys stayed up late with their mom, Toni. “We are very excited. We’ve been waiting all summer,” she said.

Their airman, Master Sgt. Brian Clancey, told us,”It was great. We had a lot of fun, and worked really hard. But I’m happy to be home now.”

In total, 300 airmen from the wing deployed. The U.S. Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of peace, prosperity, and freedom in the Indo-Pacific region, according to the wing.

“It feels good to complete the mission,” shared Staff Sgt. Carl Zupancic. He had three family members with him on this deployment, including a brother and sister and a brother-in-law.

His dad, Col. John Zupancic, said, “It’s nerve-wracking, because you worry about your children when they’re deployed. But we knew they would take care of each other and watch over eachother.”

A smaller subset of the group participated in India’s largest multi-national exercise called Tarang Shakti 2024.

Other smaller groups have been returning all week.