PENDLETON -- As Chief Warrant Officer Anson Smith knelt on the cold, bare concrete Wednesday, hands darted around him, snatching at his Army hat and medals.

A few weeks ago such contact wouldn't have been welcome, but Smith smiled as his son Colin, 5, of Richland, put on the oversized hat. Smith then handed his recently earned Order of Saint Michael medal to his youngest boy, Jesse, 4, who couldn't wait to hang it around his neck.

More than 200 friends and family members of soldiers gathered at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Pendleton to honor the Chinook helicopter unit in a demobilization ceremony.

Smith, 34, of Richland, returned home Saturday after a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan with Team Steelhead, a combination of multiple detachments from Oregon and Washington Army National Guard units operating under B Company, 1-168 General Support Aviation Battalion.

And though he already has been back a few days, his excitement and that of his boys has not worn off.

"It's indescribable to get off the plane and two little kids are screaming your name and running toward you. It's something you never forget. I can play that reel over and over in my head any time," he said.

Smith, a helicopter pilot whose civilian job is as a security patrol officer for the Hanford Patrol, now has completed four overseas deployments. The first three were with the Marine Corps Reserves, including two tours in Iraq where he worked as a landing support specialist, handling troops and cargo deliveries.

"One was in Germany, so that doesn't count," he said. "That was more of a vacation."

He left the Marines after 12 years because he wanted to be a pilot, but was told he was too old to start flying for the Corps. He joined the Pendleton-based unit to stay close to home.

Last June, he headed to Afghanistan for the first time, flying Chinook helicopters to transport troops and cargo.

This also was his first deployment as a father.

"This is our first time with kids, so it has its own set of special difficulties," said his wife, Tara, also 34. "It's exponentially harder."

Further complicating her stint as a single parent was a "freak accident" in early May when she rolled her ankle and broke her left foot, putting her on crutches for a month.

She credits her mother, Kathy Latham of Richland, friends and co-workers at Hanford High School for helping out after that mishap.

"People were really nice all through Anson's deployment, but especially after I broke my foot," she said.

The family was featured in a Herald article in March about the American Red Cross' Flat Daddy/Flat Mommy program, which provides life-size cardboard cutout photos of soldiers to their families during deployment.

And while the flat likeness was popular with the boys, Tara said technology helped her stay in better contact with Anson this time.

"Seeing him on Skype was of course the very best," she said. "It was only letters (last deployment)."

This time, she could send him email asking him to call and he would as soon as possible. During his first deployment in Iraq, only he could make contact, calling whenever he had time -- often at strange hours.

Tara even was able to send a photo of her swollen foot while waiting for a doctor.

She is off crutches, limping with a stabilizing boot, but now has help from their kids' 3-D daddy.

Four deployments probably won't be the end for Anson, however, as he said he will stay in the Guard "as long as I can pass my flight physical."

All the speakers at Wednesday's ceremony acknowledged the sacrifices that soldiers' families make -- a point not lost on Anson.

"She understands it, but she doesn't have to like it," he said of his wife. "She knows who I am, and she's supportive."

Team Steelhead completed 2,292 missions during the yearlong mobilization, carrying 76,941 passengers and 5,198 tons of cargo.