Washington's 81st Brigade heading home from Iraq

This in from the Washington National Guard Monday:

Citizen soldiers from the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Seattle, are beginning to travel home from their second deployment to Iraq.

The 3,300 citizen-soldiers will complete their demobilization process at Fort McCoy, Wisc. and begin traveling one plane load at a time back home to Washington state. The first plane load
could arrive home as early as July 25.

Soldiers of the 81st will return to either McChord Air Force Base or Fairchild Air Force Base depending on where the soldier lives.

Upon arrival, they will be greeted by a brief welcome-home ceremony. It is anticipated that the entire brigade will have returned in its entirety by the end of the first week
of August.

"We are all delighted to have the 81st back home and honor them. Their service and dedication as soldiers is a shining example to our state and nation," Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a press release.

"Visiting the 81st in Iraq was a life changing experience for me and I've been working diligently to ensure they have access to the programs and support they need upon their return."

The demobilization process, a comprehensive approach to facilitate a soldiers reintegration as the rejoin families and reenter civilian life, typically takes about 6 days for a soldier to complete.

During the process soldiers receive briefings about transition to civilian life, pay and benefits, in addition to undergoing medical and dental evaluations.

The 81st entered federal active duty on August 18, 2008. After conducting pre-deployment training at the Yakima Training Center and Fort McCoy, they deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Missions for 81st units in Iraq typically focused on convoy security, force protection, provincial reconstruction and base operations.

The 81st is headquartered in Seattle but is comprised of units from around the State of Washington and a battalion from the California Army National Guard. Approximately 2,400 soldiers from Washington and about 900 from California comprised the deploying force of the 81st. The 81st previously served in Iraq from March 2004 to March 2005.

For more info, see http://www.washingtonguard.org