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Specialist Chelsea Szymanski, 22, and Sergeant Lacey Szymanski, 25 were welcomed home with cheers, tears, flowers and a motorcade of motorcycles.

The returning soldiers rode on top of a fire truck as they were escorted through town to John's Welding and Machine Shop for a welcoming by residents.

"Words can't describe how this feels. I'm just in awe right now," Chelsea Szymanski said.

"I can't say it in words either, we both are just really thankful for all of the support everyone has given us," added her sister, Lacey.

The women enlisted in the Army National Guard the same day in 2002. About four years later they were called up to serve their country in Iraq.

"We both drove truck and delivered just about anything. Most of the time we were hauling armor to whoever needed it," said Specialist Szymanski.

The soldiers began their tour of duty together at Cobspeicher base in northern Iraq. Chelsea would stay there for the entire year, Lacey would later be relocated to Camp Taji.

"That's when I started to get really busy," Sgt. Szymanski said.

Taji is located about 20 miles north of Baghdad in what is commonly called the Sunni Triangle. This is an area that sees a lot of insurgent activity.

Lacey completed all of her missions at night because it was safer to drive then.

"It was too dangerous to drive in the day and there was only a small window of time when I could drive at night," she said. "No place on the road was ever safe."

Both soldiers said their main fear was being hit an incendiary explosive device or I.E.D.

"Neither of us was ever hit by I.E.D., but I would hear them go off in the distance and I would see trucks two or three ahead of me or behind me get hit by them," Sgt. Szymanski said.

The hardest part about the deployment was being away from loved ones.

"I hated being away from my family and friends. There were good days and bad days while I was there, but I always missed the people who I cared about," Specialist Szymanski said.

The separation was also hard on their parents, John and Carol Szymanski.

"It was the worst thing I have ever felt in my life. I knew it was coming, but that still didn't make it any easier," said Carol Szymanski.

"At first I was just e-mailing the girls, but that got to be too slow, so they showed me how to use Instant Messenger. When they would go out on missions they would let me know they were leaving and to ease my nerves they would let me know when they got back," their mother said.

Mother and daughters would also use Instant Messenger as a substitute for shopping trips.

"The girls would buy some shoes or something online and send me a link to what they had bought so I could see it. I would respond back with what I thought about what they bought. Usually, they would say Ôthat's the wrong page' and then they would have to show me again. It was fantastic and it felt like we were shopping together," Carol Szymanski said.

John Szymanski explained that the people of Argyle have been a big help for the family over the past year.

"It's been a rough year. It's affected everyone a bit different, but it's been rough. It's amazing, though, our friends and family were there for us," he said.

Judy Romzek of Argyle is one of those friends who helped lend a hand. Romzek's daughter is best friends with Chelsea and Lacey and she watched the girls grow up together. To help boost the soldiers' morale, Romzek would make a scrapbook page and send it to them in Iraq.

"Judy would send us a page every week. I would be feeling down and then all of a sudden a page would show and it would instantly cheer up me up," Chelsea said.

The homecoming celebration was spearheaded by Lou Ann Reinelt and Joan McNulty, both of Argyle. The celebration started with one banner welcoming the soldiers back home and continued to grow as others gave them ideas and help to further expand the celebration into a town event.

"It started with a banner we had hanging in town and from there it just snowballed into the parade and all of this. We got things going and then the rest of the town really stepped up to help out," McNulty said.

"We did it out of love," Reinelt added.

McNulty estimated 150 to 200 people showed up for Friday's event.

So what's next for the two soldiers from Argyle?

"I'm going to work for my dad right now," said Sgt. Syzmanski, referring to the family dairy and cash crop farm. "I started going to college at Ferris State where I was going into public administration, so I would like to finish that up."

Specialist Szymanski is also thinking about going to school sometime in the future.

"For now I'm going to kick back and enjoy life and savor everything it has to offer," she said.