Friday, Northern Nevada welcomed home one of its own, a man returning from his third tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Navy 2nd Class Petty Officer Drew Fredenburg spent seven months overseas. He was greeted Friday by his mother, Noralee, along with his wife and three children and many others.
"I'm just so excited, really excited to be back home with all my kids and my family. I missed them a lot. It feels amazing."
We spoke with his mother while she was waiting for her son to arrive.
"You can go weeks and months with really no communication. They can't tell you a lot of stuff when they can communicate, or when they are moving around and stuff, so you never really quite know."
She did say she has comfort now in knowing her son won't be deployed for at least another few years.
"It's just been a long deployment. He's been a lot of dangerous places and we're just really happy to have him coming home. I won't believe until I can actually hug him and hold him and know that he's here."
Written by Chris Ciarlo
