BATON ROUGE - There were plenty of heartwarming reunions in Baton Rouge as a group of service members returned home Friday. 

They were met by a crowd of their friends and family, welcoming them back from their tours in the Middle East. 

"I was a bit nervous. It was my first deployment. I was in Iraq, but it came out for the better. The mission was complete, it was successful," Ernie Filer said.

Filer had been away from home for a year. 

"My mom was the most excited one out of everybody to come and see me. She prayed for me every day for my safety and to see me back here to hold me in her arms and it's an amazing feeling," Filer said. 

There were 75 soldiers in total aboard the plane that landed in Baton Rouge Friday, heading back to cities all across southeast Louisiana.