SMITHFIELD -- Another 85 members of the N.C. National Guard's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team returned home Monday from deployment to Iraq, meaning about 700 of the brigade's 4,000 soldiers have come back so far.
Members of the 30th have been returning a planeload at a time to Fort Stewart, Ga., where they go through medical and dental screenings and get briefed on their insurance coverage and other issues.
All 4,000 soldiers should be home within the next several weeks, said Capt. Katherine Zyla, spokeswoman for the Guard. Once processing is complete at Fort Stewart - usually taking a week or more - soldiers are put on buses and sent back to the armories where their units are based.
The "Razorbacks," an infantry unit, returned to the armory at Smithfield about noon Monday, and were greeted by banners, more than three dozen families and military support group volunteers. They included Wanda Moore from the American Legion Auxiliary of Benson, who never met a soldier she didn't want to hug.
"You feel like you're doing some good," said Moore, who also attends as many send-offs as she can, giving soldiers small, folded American flags to take with them.
Soldiers whose families couldn't get to Smithfield because of snow-covered roads or other problems were delivered home by guardsmen from Goldsboro.
Sgt. Sidney Baker's wife, Sherrie, took advantage of the weather and came with the couple's three children, who enjoyed a snow day from school. When the children saw their father, their smiles seemed bright enough to melt what was left of the ice in the armory's parking lot.
Some soldiers had been able to get home on leave during the deployment. Others had not seen their families since April, when they went to Iraq to train police and army forces, help with civil projects such as school and infrastructure improvements, and conduct joint combat operations with Iraqi security forces, Zyla said. During the deployment, the 30th lost seven soldiers, including five from North Carolina. Twenty-nine were wounded.
Back at home, the soldiers have a new mission: getting reacquainted with their families. Many of the younger members of the 30th have young children.
Sgt. James Outland has a 7-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter. At home in Roanoke Rapids, his son, Ryan, had been counting down the days until Outland's return. But tiny Alyssa, who was just 4 months old when her father left, cried when he tried to hold her Monday.
"He says he's going to make her Daddy's little girl. That's his goal," said Outland's wife, Jessica.
Even if the baby was unsure what to say to the stranger in the uniform, her clothes sent the right message. Jessica Outland found a jumper in Alyssa's size in Army desert camouflage, with pink ribbons at the shoulders and embroidery on the front. In pink thread, it read, "My Daddy, My Hero."
A formal welcome-home ceremony is planned for the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team's 4,000 soldiers on April 11 at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
