SURAE CHINN
STATter911/WUSA9
Reprinted with Permission

114 men and women of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team arrived home to their families.

They saved 16 lives after the deadly earthquake.

A huge crowd anxiously waited for them at the Fairfax academy on West Ox Road Thursday night.

Loud cheers, smiling faces and lots of hugs and kisses to go around.

It may have only been 15 days away from home but it felt like an eternity for loved ones and the heroes who saved lives in Haiti.

As the three buses, escorted by police, turned the corner to the academy the crowd erupted.

Cindy Porter was overwhelmed with emotion.

And it just so happened Cindy’s husband, Sam, was one of the first to get off the bus.

You could see children hugging their dads a little tighter not willing to let go. The group tired, but excited too.

Their hair a little shorter after staying the night and showering in Santo Domingo before the trip home.

After their emotional reunion it didn’t take long for them to start putting their requests in.

Sam Porter yells out, “I want to get a good steak dinner!”

Rebecca Knerr, who sat by Michelle Obama at the State of the Union Wednesday night, was there to greet her husband.

Knerr says, “It’s good to have him home.”

Jim Perkins says, “I don’t like using the term hero, we were just doing our job.”

Porter says he had to throw a lot of his clothes and a pair of boots away. Most of his memories, he says, are in his mind.

Porter says, “It makes me so proud to see my family. They were there when I left and they were there when I came back. It’s breathtaking

They all said it will take some time to decompress from the 15 days of seeing all the suffering, tragedy and the miracles.

But they say they would do it again in a heartbeat.