On Coming Home....

Our son Doug will soon be home...

He did his time in hell:

From the Brainerd Dispatch:

...

ST. PAUL — The Red Bulls are coming home.

Almost two years after they got their mobilization orders to go to Iraq, the 2,600 Minnesota National Guard troops in the 1st Brigade Combat Team are set to return by Aug. 1, Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito said Tuesday.

The unit is the longest-serving in the Iraq war. And it's served longer in combat than any other Minnesota unit since World War II. Nine of its members have been killed in Iraq. Its one-year mission in Iraq was extended by 125 days when President Bush decided to boost U.S. forces there.

The Red Bulls' path home will lead from Iraq to Kuwait to Fort McCoy, Wis., to their hometown armories, where they'll be dismissed into the company of their loved ones.

"Until these soldiers arrive at Fort McCoy, they are still in harm's way," said Shellito, the state's adjutant general. "I ask our soldiers to stay focused on the mission at hand and I ask Minnesotans to keep our troops in their prayers to ensure a safe trip back to their families."

Seventy-five soldiers from Grand Rapids got to leave early. They arrived Monday at Fort McCoy for a demobilization process that generally lasts about eight days. The bulk of the rest are expected in waves in mid- to late July, but Shellito wouldn't give exact dates for security reasons.

About 600 other Minnesota National Guard soldiers and airmen are either serving in or scheduled to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, and another 400 will leave for a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo next month. Pawlenty said it's important not to overlook them even though their deployments are smaller.

The Red Bulls went to Camp Shelby, Miss., in October 2005, and shipped to Iraq in March 2006. With the extension, they will have served 16 months in the war. They drove more than 2.2 million miles on more than 4,500 convoy missions and helped build $22 million worth of roads, schools and water and electricity infrastructure in Iraq, Shellito said.

"These individuals are tremendous heroes," Pawlenty said. "They have served our state and our nation with incredible courage and patriotism and honor and we are very, very grateful for them and their families, for all the burdens that they have endured."

Meanwhile, Minnesota is about to see an unprecedented reintegration of soldiers into civilian life. The Guard's "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon" program aims to help them adjust, bringing them back together for training, workshops and seminars every month for their first three months at home.

"Never before have so many troops come home in so short a period of time," Shellito said.

For some, adjusting back to life here could take months or even years, Pawlenty said. He urged Minnesotans to show their support and to remember those who won't be coming back.

Thank you Doug! It'll be great to have you home again!