Family reunions are always a special occasion, even more so when you've been away from home for six months, fighting on battlefields in a foreign country. Our Solomon Syed has more on an emotional homecoming for some members of New York's Air National Guard in Albany.

COLONIE, N.Y. -- Thirteen airmen and women of the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing returned home on Monday.

The troops have been deployed in the Middle East since April.

Ashley Byer-Walters of the New York Air National Guard said, "We appreciate it. Hopefully it gets wrapped up soon, but as many times we have to go and whatever we have to do, that is the way it is."

Byer-Walters' younger brother, who is also a member of the Air National Guard, is in New York City right now helping with relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy.