Bella Foreman, 3, greets her father, James Foreman, during a welcome-home event for members of the 377th Engineer Company of the U.S. Army Reserves at the Butler base Thursday. Bella's mother, Kayla, looks on.

BUTLER TWP — Sgt. Paul Smith, of Clarion, was most looking forward to spending time with his family, he said, standing in the chilly air outside the U.S. Army Reserve site on Evans City Road.

He, along with the other members of the 377th Engineer Company, had just returned home Thursday after a roughly 11-month deployment to Djibouti, where, Capt. Katerina Graf said, they completed 26 projects at seven sites in three countries.

The company began its journey from home just after Christmas, and spent time training in Texas before its deployment to the Horn of Africa. Graf said they were engaged in work and volunteering while in Djibouti, but that doesn't mean the company or their families were anything but joyful upon return.

“It's been hard. Real hard,” Smith's mother, Penny, said. “He's been in (the Reserves) for 30 years,” but it doesn't really get easier.

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