BLOOMINGTON -- Joy was abundant when Illinois Army National Guard soldiers serving in Afghanistan came home Wednesday afternoon.

Thirteen members of the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team returned to a flag-waving crowd outside the New Lafayette Club, 1602 S. Main St., before a joyous reunion inside.

Nine-year-old Riley Bolt of Decatur didn't have much to say, but her face said a lot. Her father, Staff Sgt. Brad Bolt of Decatur, had been gone a year.

"She's a daddy's girl -- it's been really hard," said Vickie Horath, principal of Hillside Bethel Christian School, Decatur, where Riley is a student.

Greg McGee of Effingham felt like "a hundred plus" on a scale of 100 shortly before his son, Dylan McGee, returned. He said staying busy helped him cope during that year.

Steve Brienen of Danvers summed it up in five words as he and his wife, Lucerne, along with other family and friends waited for their son, Spc. Mark Brienen. "It's been too damn long," said his father, a former McLean County sheriff.

Mark Brienen, like the other soldiers, got hugs with teary smiles. "It's a relief," said Mark Brienen. "It's so overwhelming -- it hasn't all set in yet."

Asked what he'd do when he got to Danvers, Brienen said, "eat some Fast Stop pizza."

The soldiers' return included singing the national anthem, a prayer and brief remarks.

The 13 are from Central Illinois and Bloomington "was the most centralized location," said Annette Chapman, a family readiness support assistant.

The soldiers were part of the largest overseas deployment of Illinois National Guard since World War II, said an Illinois Army and Air National Guard statement. Their primary mission was training and mentoring Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. During the deployment, which involved about 30 units statewide, 18 soldiers were killed and more than 30 seriously wounded.