The first group of our New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel based at Camp Taji have been released back home to their families after two weeks in isolation.
Their return came two months earlier than expected but COVID-19 travel restrictions played a role in their early departure.
Our soldiers have spent the past two weeks after returning from Camp Taji in isolation at the Whenuapai air force base north of Auckland.
"To be the final mission that was able to wrap it up and bring everyone home, that was pretty cool," says New Zealand Army Lieutenant Toby Jordan.
Lieutenant Jordan is one of the last 45 personnel to leave the US-led coalition base in Iraq.
"There's no green grass, it is dusty, it is quite deserty there and we have big concrete walls providing protection around the whole camp," he says.
And those walls would prove useful - four weeks ago two American soldiers and a British soldier were killed after a rocket attack nearby.
But Defence Minister Ron Mark maintains that had nothing to do with our early withdrawal.
"The security implications had no impact at all. The decisions as to timing came down to one of logistics," he says.
That's because of COVID-19 travel restrictions so our troops hitched a ride with the Australian Defence Force because we couldn't get a Hercules aircraft in.
Kiwi boots were put on the ground in 2015 under the Key Government.
A two-year deployment was then extended through to November 2018, before that was pushed back to what was supposed to be June this year.
"Everyone's pretty happy to be coming home and being reunited with their families soon," Lieutenant Jordan says.
But not soon enough. Lieutenant Jordan won't make it home until after Easter - and has one small request for his family.
"Not too phased about the Easter chocolate but the Easter hot cross buns - definitely hoping they save me some," he says.
The first time nearly all NZDF soldiers get to spend Easter at home rather than at Camp Taji in four long years.
