Excuse me, General, I need to kiss my husband Final forces home from Afghanistan Our last remaining 259 armed forces personnel return to Australia from Uruzgan province, Afghanistan on Thursday. PT1M28S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2zolx 620 349 December 20, 2013 - 7:01AM This war story ends with a love story, or quite a few love stories. One of them belongs to Major Jon Lane. After eight months in Kandahar, the psychiatrist was among 259 armed forces personnel to return to Australia from Afghanistan on Thursday, ending our combat operations in that country. Home for Christmas: Sally Beaumont greets Jon Lane at Sydney Airport. When the strapping, tattooed Major Lane stepped in to the arrivals hall at Sydney Airport, he was greeted first by Major-General Michael Slater, Commander of Forces Command. A tall, elegant woman hovered politely nearby. The commander and Major Lane continued with their pleasantries. Major Lane made eye contact with the woman. She edged closer. Finally she moved into the view of General Slater. She smiled patiently. At which point the commander registered what was happening. He declared that he had better get out of the way. This was just as well. Reunited: Corporal Beazley with his wife Mel and daughter Taisha. Major Lane and the woman threw their arms about each other with abandon. Delirious, they kissed. They laughed. They kissed some more. She cried. It was as if they were the only people in the room. The tall woman is Major Lane's wife, Sally Beaumont. "He's home, safe," she said, barely able to speak through her emotion. For her and the couple's two teenage daughters, it had been a long stretch without him at home in Hobart. What next for the psychiatrist? "Mental health," he said, then explained: "Have a beer." Beer was a common refrain as 104 of the arrivals from Afghanistan disembarked in Sydney. The rest went to Darwin and Brisbane. They included two from the navy, 75 from the air force and the last 179 of the nation's army members to leave the combat zone of Oruzgan province. Unexpectedly, they were home for Christmas. Magic moment: Brendon Heape kisses daughter Mikaela. Corporal Brendon Heape fell into the arms of his wife Catherine in Sydney. He hoisted their baby daughter, Mikaela, high. "She was two weeks old when I left," he said. Corporal Heape has spent seven months at the base in Tarin Kowt, in Oruzgan, which has been handed back to the Afghans. On a break in September, Corporal Heape had two weeks with Catherine and Mikaela at their Blue Mountains home, but now he marvelled at the changes in his girl. Since the war started 12 years ago, 25,000 Australians have served in Afghanistan. Forty have died and 261 have been seriously wounded. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this week the "sacrifice has not been in vain" because Oruzgan was a better place today. Leading Aircraftsman Chris Simons agreed. "It is no longer a haven for terrorists," he said. He was greeted by his wife, Nicola Hobbs, and their children, four-year-old Billy and two-year-old Annabell. They had not been expecting him home in time to fly to New Zealand for Christmas with Nicola's family. "We kept his ticket, just in case," she said. She and Catherine Heape acknowledged the fears that go with being the partners of men at war. "I try to be realistic," Ms Heape said. They're very well trained. Corporal Joel McEwan, returning from his third deployment, said: "We've left the place in pretty good shape. Now we'll have to watch and see what happens. Whatever happens, Major Lane now knows what he loves, beyond his family, about Australia. The green. Water. Somewhere that doesn't just have dirt and dust and rocks.