RAF LAKENHEATH, England — When a few hundred airmen from the 48th Fighter Wing left RAF Lakenheath in January, the English sky was gray, and the temperature cool. When they returned early Wednesday morning, well, the English sky was gray and the temperature cool.

There was one major difference, however.

The four-month deployment downrange that had been staring the airmen in the face for more than year was now behind them.

“Good,” said Airman 1st Class Rene Colon-Mestey when asked how it felt to be home.

Of course, the member of the 48th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron could have been referring to the kisses deposited on him by Vanessa Smart, his fiancée.

About 200 airmen returned early Wednesday from Southwest Asia, which is as close as they can come to naming their location. That’s a U.S. Central Command directive, said a base public affairs spokesman.

Central Command will not publicize the location because of “host-nation sensitivities,” according to 1st Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald, a command spokesman in Tampa, Fla.

Brig. Gen. Mark T. Matthews, the wing commander, was on hand Wednesday to welcome the airmen back to England.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s rare to have all three squadrons home and all our people at the same time.”

There are wing members still in the pipeline, Matthews said, but everyone should be back in early June. However, the base will deploy a squadron again in September.

During the deployment, which included more than 1,000 people, Matthews said the base went about its business at home, leaving the deployed troops to the downrange command and control.

“We stay out of their business unless they need support,” he said.

Matthews, who is due to leave the wing in late June, said he’s been through three major aviation rotations during his tenure.

The meeting room at the Strike Eagle Complex, where families were reunited, cleared out quickly. Spouses and children greeted the returning airman with hugs and kisses and a balloon or two.

Despite the separation, airmen were glad they weren’t pulling deployments similar to their Army brethren, who spend 12 months at a time downrange.

“The Army definitely has it worse off than we do,” said Senior Airman Daniel Rockdaschel II, of the 48th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “[But] four months is long enough for me.”

“It was our first deployment,” said his wife, April, “so it was long.”

Airman 1st Class Jacob Puff, also of the 48th AMS, said of the soldiers, “I give them all my support. Without even knowing them, they have my respect.

“It’s a different world.”