A HUSBAND and wife were finally able to relax with their family after spending six months serving in the Iraq war.

Kelly and Adam Senior - both Corporals serving with Second Battalion of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers - were delighted to be back with Kelly's family in Bransford, yesterday.

Parents David and Wendy Smith covered their house in "welcome home" banners and bunting.

Even Jess the dog was wearing yellow ribbon.

The couple have been in the Gulf since February. But although they serve in the same regiment they shared the same heartache as any family during the two weeks of battle.

"During the war we didn't know where each other was," said Kelly who was in Kuwait while Adam was posted inside Iraq.

"It was like the wives at home who had no idea how their husbands are."

Once the fighting was over the couple were reunited outside Iraq's second city Basra, where they celebrated both Kelly's birthday and their second wedding anniversary.

"Mum smuggled us through a parcel with a little bottle of champagne and some salmon," said Kelly an instrument technician who has been with the regiment for seven-and-a-half years.

Last night they were enjoying a family party and adjusting to being back in Britain.

"It was the heat and the lack of creature comforts that affected me more than anything," said Kelly, aged 24.

"We missed the things you don't think about, like running water and showers and toilets."

Having returned from the Gulf on Monday to the regiment's permanent base in Fallingbostel in Germany, the couple are on leave until September and are planning a holiday to Cornwall.

"We're glad to see some different colours other than beige," said 31 year-old Adam, a military instructor.

"Kelly was my strength while I was out there. And it was the support from both families that got us through the whole thing."

Mr and Mrs Smith, who also met and married while serving in the Army, were delighted to have Kelly home along with her sisters Emma and Laura who is on leave from the medical corps in Northern Ireland.

"My heart goes out to the families who still have husbands, wives and children out there," said Mr Smith, now a firefighter.

"I feel very fortunate that ours have come home when many people haven't."