Families and friends will welcome home nearly 100 soldiers Wednesday after an 11-month deployment to Iraq.

Members of the 849th Mobility Augmentation Company, based in Litchfield, will return to Litchfield between noon and 1 p.m. Wednesday. The caravan will drive through town before a brief Welcome Home ceremony and dismissal at the Litchfield Armory.

The 849th unit, which is part of the 682nd Engineering Battalion, was deployed last June. After three months of predeployment training at Camp Shelby, Miss., the soldiers were were stationed near Baghdad, serving as security forces. They also provided coordination and guidance for renovation and construction of three schools, a Marketplace with 20 stores and several sanitation projects totaling more than $1.5 million. The company
also operated, supervised and controlled the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Base Defense Operation Center 24 hours a day, supporting all force protection issues in coordination with the 5th Group Special Forces.

See the deployment ceremony story, "A military send-off full of emotions," at www.independentreview.net/news/military/military-send-full-emotions-1074 [2]. A slideshow from the event is available at www.independentreview.net/news/around-meeker-county/troops-receive-large... [3].