Port Security Unit 309 returned home Wednesday, after a three-month deployment to the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

  Nearly 70 Coast Guard Reserve members based out of Port Clinton landed at the 179th Airlift Wing to very excited and emotional crowd of family and friends.

 "I'm just really excited to get him back home," Monica Nauert, wife of Cmdr. Gerald Nauert said. 

  Ann Fleming said it's been a rough the past few months here at home, and having her husband, Jack, back at home will help make things a little easier.  

  "This is his fifth deployment to the Middle East," says Fleming. "It's been OK. We're getting through it. I'm just happy to have him home."

  Melissa Sturges could not wait for her husband, GM2 Nicholas Sterges, to get off the airplane, so he could hold his six-week old baby girl for the first time. 

  "He's got to see her on Skype," she says. "But, just not hold her!"

  During the deployment, Port Security Unit 309 provided seaward security at strategic port locations around the North Arabian Gulf ensuring the free flow of personnel, equipment and commerce in the region.

  Cmdr. Gerald Nauert, is PSU 309's commanding officer. "The mission went well," says Cmdr. Nauert. "The crew performed spectacularly. They work hard all the time."

  "Our motto that we yell is 'Facta, Non Verba,' which stands for "deeds not words,'" Cmdr. Nauert said. "And, the crew truly lives up to that.

 Cmdr. Nauert says the PSU 309 crew will spend the next couple of months training.   He says once again they will get ready to deploy where the coast guard needs them.

  Besides seeing family and friends, what is the crew looking forward to the most about being home? Cmdr. Nauert says "fast food."