Father’s Day will be a whole lot nicer for some families in Northwest Missouri because a military transport plane brought dads home Monday from a six-month tour of duty in Southwest Asia.

Welcome-home signs, balloons, smiling faces, cheering and lots of hugs greeted the returning group, which included two women and 29 men — all members of the 139th Security Forces Squadron. They left Rosecrans Memorial Airport in December.

The Air Guard members weren’t in Afghanistan or Iraq, but because of the sensitive nature of the assignment, the location isn’t being released, said Maj. Barb Denny, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Air National Guard.

Family members started showing up at the 139th Airlift Wing base a couple of hours before the troops returned.

Maria Brando, 17 months old, dressed up in a beautiful white dress and walked by herself to the waiting area so she could see her daddy, Staff Sgt. James Brando.

When the sergeant left home she could only walk a step or two, said Samantha Brando, the mother who followed close behind her daughter.

Donald Rice drove in with his family from Raymore, Mo., to welcome home his son, Senior Airman Donald Rice Jr.

Two St. Joseph Police Department officers were among the returning veterans: Master Sgt. Chris Black and Senior Airman Craig Smith.

Michelle Black and the two girls, Karleigh, 4, and Kamille, 2, were excitedly waiting for Mr. Black. The two girls were decked out in matching red, white and blue dresses.

“Karleigh’s a daddy’s girl who used to go just about everywhere with her father,” Mrs. Black said.

Kamille got picked up as soon as she got close to her father. The 2-year-old didn’t want to be put down the rest of the morning.

Starting with Christmas, the Air Guard members missed holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and an ice storm while they were overseas working as policemen and security officers. Cell phones and the Internet kept most of them in touch with their families at least once a week. After filling out paperwork and going through medical processing, the group was released for much-needed vacations.

This was the first overseas deployment for Senior Airman Adam Herring, who lives in Savannah, Mo. The young man already has volunteered to go to Afghanistan in six months.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall@npgco.com.