The disputed territory in the Balkans declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 in a region that has been unstable since the breakup of Yugoslavia more than 18 years ago and where U.S troops have been part of a NATO peacekeeping contingent since 1999.

The soldiers returning Thursday were among more than 1,200 California National Guardsmen tasked with peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, according to California National Guard Sgt. Jan Bender.

In Kosovo, they spent their days and nights on patrols, provided security for other coalition forces, trained with Kosovan military forces, and performed humanitarian aid missions, according to Bender.

"I am proud and honored to welcome home the soldiers of our California National Guard, who for the last year successfully provided security and stabilization for the people of Kosovo," Maj. Gen. William H. Wade II, the California National Guard adjutant general, said in a statement. "It is fitting that these soldiers are home just in time for Thanksgiving."

Kosovo has been under United Nations protections since 1999, after NATO intervened to stop the repression of ethnic Albanians, who make up about 95 percent of its population. Many of soldiers returning today have also deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bender said.