Lt. Col. Steve Wiegers, Maj. Lucy Hall and Col. Russell Conrad all returned in July from more than a year deployments.

Wiegers was stationed in Kuwait, while Hall and Conrad were both in Kosovo.

All three cut their yellow ribbons down on Thursday at the former Lansing Elementary School, where the ribbons had been hanging since the past school year.

After returning, Conrad said he found himself having to readjust to “normal” life and getting to know his family again.

“The ribbon-cutting ceremony here marks an achievement, of really completing that to a degree,” he said.

Carla Wiegers, Steve’s wife, said the children are also recognized when the ribbons come down.

“For the children I think this ceremony really means a lot, because they’re like the celebrities in school,” she said.

For a family with a parent deployed, adjustment can be tough. Carla said she and her husband tried to wait as long as possible before telling their children — Leah, 8, and Elyssa, 6.

After deployment, she said she tried to keep the children’s minds off of the situation by staying busy with activities and visits from family members.

Sara Conrad, mother of Teddy, 7, and Russell’s wife, said individual personalities have a lot to do with how a child adjusts to life without a parent.

“Teddy was different. He’s in the here and now,” she said. “He’s very much like ‘I really miss dad but can I have a piece of candy?’”

All three officers said they were able to communicate with their families on a regular basis thanks to technologies like e-mail, but other programs and resources are also now available for military families to help during a deployment.

“It’s pretty good because those programs didn’t really exist five years ago,” Russell said.

Both Sara and Carla said there are programs offered through organizations like the National Military Families Association.

One of those programs is Operation Purple, which offers free day camps to children of military parents. Steve said her daughter Leah attended one of the camps in Missouri.

Another valuable resource turned out to be the Kansas National Guard, which Sara said hosted a program at Fort Leavenworth and other locations for children about adjusting to having a deployed parent. She said the program, which ran from before and after her husband’s deployment, included discussions and craft projects.

“I think it really helped,” Sara said.

Both Sara and Carla said there are other resources available for military families, including the Army One Source hotline at 800-464-8107, which provides information and counselors to military families.

Steve said the Leavenworth and Lansing communities have also been a good source of support.