More than 3,000 Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers return from Iraq in January

January 4, 2010: The 3,200 Soldiers from the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and six other Wisconsin Army National Guard units will return to Wisconsin beginning Tuesday. Leading the way will be approximately 115 Soldiers, mostly from the Fort Atkinson-based Troop A, 105th Calvary, followed by the remaining 3,000 Soldiers throughout the month. All are scheduled to return to Volk Field where they will be met by senior National Guard officials, a military band and family members — homecomings are not open to the general public. Following an initial reunion with their families and a brief official "welcome home," ceremony the Soldiers will travel to nearby Fort McCoy to begin about five days of demobilization processing before being released from active duty.

The 32nd Brigade, augmented by six other Wisconsin Army National Guard units, was ordered to active duty Feb. 1, 2009 and deployed to Iraq in April and May following two months of training at Fort Bliss, Texas.

During training and while in Iraq, the brigade was organized into 27 company-sized units. Rather than operating as a brigade, the 32nd was tasked with a variety of missions throughout Iraq. These missions included forward operating base administration, base defense, area security, quick reaction forces, freedom of movement security support, detainee guard force operations at theater internment facilities, closing the largest internment facility in Iraq, transferring detainees, operating an academy to train Iraqi corrections officers, inspecting detention facilities, securing and administering the International Zone in Baghdad, and turning over U.S.-controlled properties back the government of Iraq. The brigade's Soldiers operated around the clock, most of them working at least 12 hours a day — day after day, week after week, for eight full months in Iraq.

Having accomplished their mission, each company began transferring responsibilities to units from the Texas National Guard's 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team at the end of December and will continue to do so as they prepare to return to Wisconsin in January.