More than 200 Irish troops from the 124th Infantry Battalion returned to Ireland from Lebanon on Monday.
The United Nations Interim Force Lebanon (Unifil) returned to Dublin Airport following a six-month deployment to South Lebanon.
There were tears and cheers as the troop filtered into the arrivals hall with many excited children, parents and partners waving flags, balloons and posters.
The returning troops have operated in the IRISHPOLBATT Area of Operations (AO), since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began.
On multiple occasions Unifil, and specifically these Irish troops, were forced to take shelter in protected positions and bunkers as the area came under fire.
Last month a Unifil outpost on the Israel-Lebanon border was damaged during fighting between the two sides.
WiFi communication went down in the area months ago, meaning the Irish troops could not contact families like they normally would.