After almost one year in Iraq, members of the 143rd Military Police Company of the Montana National Guard will return home this weekend.
The 45 members of the 143rd National Guard unit arrived Saturday, Oct. 24 at Fort Lewis, Washington. They are there for a week, undergoing physical and mental health evaluations, filling out paperwork and taking care of other matters before heading home.
This week, south of Tacoma, Washington, the 45 Montanans who serve with the 143rd saw something that had been missing from their lives for the past year - the color green.
For Staff Sgt. Kelley Ziegler of Hamilton the most shocking thing about being back in the states is "green."
"Everything's green," Ziegler said.
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Mulhill agrees.
"It's amazing because everything there is sand brown. There is nothing that grows except for palm trees, and coming back and seeing green grass and rain," Mulhill said.
The air at Ft. Lewis is certainly much damper than the company's post outside Baghdad. The soldiers will have to wait there a few more days before their final plane ride home.
143rd Commanding Officer Captain Terry Lewis says his men and women had a calm deployment, providing law enforcement within the walls of Camp Victory Army Base. Still, the company must undergo a week of mental and physical health screenings, stacks of financial and personnel paperwork. But they are getting antsy.
"We've been gone for almost 12 months, and so to be a few hours from home but not be able to go home, it's an anxious time," Lewis said.
"A lot of waiting in line, a bunch of people played basketball, there's been some card games going on, most of us have been spending copious amounts of time on our phones," Ziegler said.
The soldiers are looking forward to getting home to their families.
"(The first thing I'm going to do is) hug and kiss my kids and probably not let go of them until they're fighting, 'Mom, let go of me!'" Ziegler said.
"You know I've been with my family for the past year, which are all my soldiers, but now it's time to get back to my real family and start mending those relationships and building those relationships again," Mulhill said.
Ziegler says she's eager to return to her normal life, yet she remains a career soldier.
"I joined to serve my country and I actually volunteered to come on this one, so, if I can do it my kids don't have to," she said.
The men and women of the 143rd most likely won't face redeployment for five years or so. That's five year's with their families, five years with green grass.
The 143rd flies into Arlin's Aircraft Service at Gallatin Field Airport at 12:25 p.m. Saturday. The National Guard encourages the public to come welcome them home.
(From Oct. 28, 2009)
Members of the 143rd Montana National Guard unit are back on American soil and just days away from returning home.
The 45 members of the 143rd National Guard unit arrived Saturday, Oct. 24 at Fort Lewis, Washington. They will stay there for a week to undergo physical and mental health evaluations, fill out paperwork and take care of other matters before heading home. They are expected to be back in Belgrade on Saturday.
Members of the group are close to home, but many said it is an antsy time as they await their return home.
Members of the Livingston-based unit left almost a year ago, saying goodbye to their loved ones on Nov. 7, 2008. Their first stop was Fort Dix where they awaited deployment to Iraq.
As military police, their mission is to serve as law enforcement officers on the base.
Reporter Dan Boyce will have more in a full report later.
