CHEYENNE — Members of the Wyoming Army National Guard who’ve been in the Middle East for the past year start returning to the state Saturday, and Guard officials hope to have the entire group back by Easter.
About 100 soldiers are scheduled to arrive at the Casper airport at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Guard spokesman Brandon Quester said Thursday.
Two other groups will follow, but a date for their return has not been determined, he said.
About 700 Wyoming Guard members left in April for tours in Kuwait or Iraq.
No Wyoming members were killed during the deployment, and fewer than 20 came home early for various health reasons, Quester said.
The deployment marked the largest single-unit deployment in the state Guard’s history.
“Knock on wood, they’re not all home yet, but if things remain as they are today, we will have had the largest deployment in state history without losing anyone — no combat deaths,” Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Wednesday.
“A year’s a long time. I know the soldiers are glad to get home, their families are glad to get them home.”
The deployment included the Cheyenne-based 115th Fires Brigade, the 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery composed of northern Wyoming units, and the 960th Brigade Support Battalion composed of Casper-area units.
The first soldiers to return to Wyoming this weekend are with the 960th. They arrived at Fort Hood, Texas, on Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Deanne Vogel of Cheyenne, executive officer for the 115th, said all the returning soldiers will spend five days at Fort Hood as part of the demobilization process.
The soldiers turn in equipment and go through a range of briefings related to leaving active duty and returning to Wyoming.
“We came in the first day and the air smelled better, and everything was greener,” Vogel said in a telephone interview from Fort Hood.
“The first scent of mown grass that we got down here was fantastic, and then the second day it kind of seemed like Kuwait had been a dream, and then the third day we’re like, ‘Let’s get out of Texas and get back home.’ “
The 115th Fires Brigade oversaw battalions from multiple states during the deployment, Guard officials have said.
The soldiers’ jobs included running operating bases in Kuwait, providing convoy security for trucks moving in and out of Iraq, and doing security missions in Iraq.
“It was longer than a year for a lot of people, because the planning stage starts a year out before you leave, and the training at your home station starts,” Vogel said. “But once you get in country and are doing your job, I think that time goes by pretty fast.”
Representatives of the Veterans Affairs medical centers in Cheyenne and Sheridan are at Fort Hood to provide returning Guard members with information about VA services related to physical and mental health, and GI bill benefits such as education and home loans.
