Hartford — The last Connecticut National Guard unit serving overseas comes home Friday.

Sixty-five soldiers with the 1109th Theatre Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group, based in Groton, will be reunited with their loved ones after a nearly yearlong deployment to the Middle East.

The return of the group marks only the second time since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 that all Connecticut Army National Guard units find themselves on United States soil, according to a news release from the guard.

Only four TASMGs exist nationwide, and Connecticut's is responsible for providing technical and mechanical support to the helicopter assets of 14 states.

The deployed soldiers spent the past year maintaining U.S. helicopters in Kuwait and Afghanistan in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Resolute Support mission.

The NATO mission, launched Jan. 1, provides further training and support for the Afghan security forces and institutions following the end of NATO's combat mission at the end of 2014.

As of July, 6,800 U.S. troops, or 52 percent of all troops involved, were part of the mission.

The Connecticut Air National Guard is expected to deploy nearly 400 airmen to the Middle East later this year.