More than 200 Georgian troops are returning home after completing their tours in Afghanistan.
A welcome home ceremony for troops in the 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery Regiment was scheduled Saturday in Elberton, where the unit is headquartered about 30 miles northeast of Athens.
The battalion's soldiers left their families and their day jobs last February to train for their overseas deployment. The soldiers served in western Afghanistan from May through December, conducting base security operations in an area covering more than 120 square miles.
Georgia has been the largest non-NATO troop contributor to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force since it almost doubled its presence in Afghanistan to more than 1,560 soldiers last fall.
Twenty-seven Georgian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2004.