Windsor Locks - A soldier injured in Afghanistan said he felt as if a burden was lifted Friday when the rest of his unit returned home.

Connecticut National Guard Sgt. Jeff Laferriere was one of five soldiers traveling in an armored vehicle that hit a roadside bomb on Easter Sunday. Laferriere often thought about his friends finishing the yearlong deployment in Afghanistan while he was recovering from spinal injuries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"I knew what they were going through, and I couldn't be there," said Laferriere, 24, of Terryville. "I wished I was still there with them. Every soldier wants to stay with their guys."

Wearing an Adidas jacket and jeans and standing inconspicuously near the door of the airport hangar, Laferriere watched as his friends from the 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment, streamed inside.

About 175 soldiers from the infantry battalion and Company F, 186th Brigade Support Battalion, were reunited with their families Friday at the Army Aviation Support Facility. Six hundred soldiers from the two battalions are returning to Connecticut in three groups. About 250 soldiers arrived Wednesday. The others are expected Monday.

"The guys I served with are just like family," Laferriere said. "I had to see them come back."

Sgt. Dennis Ryder gave Laferriere, his roommate in Afghanistan, a hug.

Ryder, 30, of Hamden, said it had been a "rough deployment," but the soldiers "got the job done."

'We came together'

"We came together and kicked some ass," he said.

The soldiers confronted the Taliban many times during the deployment, according to the Guard. After the Easter Sunday attack, two of the five injured soldiers returned to duty, and three were taken to Walter Reed.

Laferriere is now undergoing physical therapy in Connecticut, and he will go before a medical evaluation board to determine if he can stay in the military. The other two soldiers are progressing well, according to the Guard.

A Waterford soldier in the same unit, Staff Sgt. Edwin Rivera, was killed in May.

The infantry battalion, headquartered in New Haven and commanded by Lt. Col. Francis Evon, partnered with the Afghan security forces to train and mentor the Afghan army, police and border police forces to help stabilize the country's government.

The support battalion, headquartered in Southington and commanded by Capt. Alyssa Kelleher, provided logistical support for the infantry, including equipment maintenance.

Ryder chose to sign up for another six years in the National Guard while overseas. This was his third combat deployment. "I love the Army and the 102nd," he said. "I can't see myself doing anything else."