The first 3rd Brigade Combat Team soldiers returned home to Fort Drum early Wednesday, to the open arms and open relief of loved ones.

150 soldiers arrived from Afghanistan just after midnight.

They are the first of more than 3500 soldiers who will return from Afghanistan over the next six weeks.

29 soldiers of the 3rd BCT were killed during the year long deployment.

Those soldiers were much on the minds of returning soldiers early Wednesday.

"We have to keep going on with the fight, and pray for the soldiers we lost," said Private 1st Class Shemeka Nixon.

"We were given a job to go do and that's what we went to do," said Sergeant William Mabry, who completed his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.

The 3rd BCT has no official orders to return to Afghanistan - in fact, the soldiers should now be home for a year.

However, family members generally believe the 3rd will continue to be involved in the Afghanistan campaign, according to people 7 News reporter Alexandra Field spoke with.

The return of the first soldiers of the 3rd BCT comes on the same day President Obama is again examining his options for Afghanistan.