20 soldiers welcomed home at Logan

His daughter, Lucie, squirmed in a pink stroller at Logan International Airport yesterday to welcome her father, alongside other spouses, parents, and children of service members in a tearful and festive gathering.

Sarah Scholes learned to handle the difficult first months with her first child on her own and with help from her family.

“You just have to figure out things with your own brain,’’ she said, “and call your mom a lot.’’

The mental health professionals of the 883d Medical Company put in hundreds of miles, visiting soldiers wherever they were and helping them to cope with the stresses associated with combat as well as at home.

“You’re expecting [combat], and you know how to deal with it, and you’re trained,’’ said Staff Sergeant Joseph Regan of Rochester, N.H. “Most of the stress that soldiers deal with is homefront stuff: your wife cheats on you, your dad is sick.’’

He said he and his fellow psychologists offered solutions to problems with sleeping and recommended ways to deal with irritability, stress, and anger.

The ceremony yesterday was attended by Army officials and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Soldiers reunited with family and friends after days of processing at Fort Dix, N.J.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet - being home,’’ Regan said. “It’s all really surreal,’’

During their tour, the soldiers in his group also helped develop a way of fulfilling their work remotely, called “telemedicine,’’ which can eliminate long convoy treks along dangerous Afghan roads and save soldiers time.

“It’s like Skype,’’ said Captain Daniel Higgins, who directed the unit’s operations from its headquarters in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan.

“We have soldiers in the front lines,’’ he said. “To get them back to Kandahar airfield for treatment, sometimes it would take a week to get them here, and it could take a week to get them back.’’

It could also make the time spent away safer, something Higgins’s mother appreciates.

“It’s a relief just knowing he’s here in our country,’’ said Lucy Higgins of South Paris, Maine. “I don’t have to think any more about him not being safe. It’s an awful feeling all of a sudden to think of him and knowing where he was. And now he’s home.’’

Ben Wolford can be reached at bwolford@globe.com.