After almost 15 months of military service, 1st Sgt. Gregory Lynn Riley, formerly of Luverne, returned home to his family with his National Guard unit.

Riley is with the 3/117th Field Artillery Battalion of Troy, which returned from Iraq this past Tuesday.

His unit was deployed on Nov. 7, 2004, and sent to Camp Shelby in Miss. From there, they were sent to Iraq on Feb. 5, 2005.

He was stationed in Taji in Iraq.

Riley joined the National Guard when he was 18 years old and is a 1978 Luverne High School graduate. He is presently employed with Farley Nuclear Plant in the southern portion of Alabama.

&#8220This has been a long wait,” his mother, Faye Riley, said. &#8220I'm just so happy he is coming home.”

&#8220We sent emails back and forth, but I wrote him a letter every week,” she said.

Riley and his wife, Twyla, live in Headland, Ala. They have three children, Wesley and Adrienne Riley and Tyler Barnes.

Riley's parents are Faye Riley of Luverne and the late Pete Riley. His grandmother is Mable Carnley of Luverne.

He has two sisters, Theresa Free of Luverne, and Sonya Palmer of Dothan.