SMITHFIELD - Most women don't have a T-shirt with their husband's photo on it. Then again, most women have seen the man they married in the last year.

Last week, Lashay Mooring of Pine Level was sporting a red, white and blue T-shirt with a full-color photo of her husband, Sfc. Christopher Mooring. He had shipped out for Iraq on their first wedding anniversary.

"Being the man and the woman of the house, it's harder than I ever would expect," Lashay Mooring said.

For his part, Christopher Mooring is ready to put on civilian clothes and relax. "I'm looking forward to not going anywhere," he said. "I should be able to make a few more anniversaries."

Last week, Mooring and about 80 other soldiers from the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team returned to the National Guard Armory in Smithfield. There to greet them were family and friends waving flags, holding banners and honking horns. "There's mine!" one woman shouted as she caught sight of her husband and took off running.

After he'd gotten a round of hugs from family, Spc. Eric Cole of Clayton was eager to make Bojangle's his next stop. It's hard to find good fried chicken and biscuits overseas, he said.

After Bojangles, the National Guardsman from Clayton said he was headed home to rest. "I'm staying here for awhile," he said.

"We are so very proud of him," said Cole's mother, Tanya Dale. "It's been pretty hard."

Through the Internet, Dale was able to talk to her son almost daily. "I could go online and make sure he was still there," she said. She's breathing easier now with Cole at home, but the respite from worry won't last long as her daughter is scheduled to deploy in a few months.

Cole, who joined the Guard after a close friend died in Iraq, missed countless holidays, a couple of weddings and many family events while he was gone. But he's "just in time" for a family member's birthday, he said.

Across the armory grounds last week, there were many happy, teary-eyed reunions.

Sgt. James Outland's entire family drove down from Roanoke Rapids to meet him. His 18-month-old daughter Alyssa was decked out in camouflage with the words "My daddy, my hero" stitched in pink across the front.

"I was worried she wouldn't know who James was," said Outland's wife, Jessica. Their daughter was only 9 months old when her dad left.

Not to be outdone by his sister, Ryan Outland, 7, came out wearing fatigues that matched his father's.

"He's all about what I do," James Outland said. "He wants to hear everything."

The Smithfield-based soldiers, dubbed the Razorbacks, were among 4,000 National Guardsmen from North Carolina who recently left Iraq. Other units are scheduled to return home within several weeks.