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Dec 4th, 2010


First Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division returns home after year-long deployment in Iraq

More photos at PHOTOblog
.com


Members of 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in a C-17 aircraft at Sather Air Base in Baghdad as they begin their journey home to Fort Stewart, Ga., Nov. 30, 2010. More than seven years after the 1st Brigade entered Baghdad as the first conventional U.S. forces in Iraq, its soldiers are coming home from a yearlong deployment that saw the end of combat operations. (Photo credit: Maya Alleruzzo / AP)

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Related report on this site

Coming Home (April 10, 2010)


Members of the 372nd Engineer Brigade based at Fort Snelling, Minn., prepare to carry the body of Army Reserve Sgt. Kurt Kruize to a waiting hearse at St. Cloud Regional Airport, Saturday, April 10, 2010.
Sgt. Kruize was killed April 4, 2010 in a military accident in Baghdad.
(Photo credit: Kimm Anderson / St. Cloud Times)

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12/6/10 Update

Minnesota Soldiers Come Home After Making History

By Jay Kolls
KSTP-TV 5
Dec. 5, 2010

They just finished a year-long deployment in the Middle East. The battalion’s assignment was to build schools and homes and provide special transportation services. While on its tour, the unit suffered one casualty and several other soldiers were injured.

The engineer battalion flew into Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and then endured a nearly five-hour bus ride home to St. Cloud. More than a hundred family members and friends were their to greet their heroes.

For Billie Kruize, the homecoming was bittersweet. Her husband, Kurt, was killed one month into the deployment. She told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she was at the homecoming to show support for her husband’s brothers and sisters in arms.

The 367th made history by becoming only the second U.S. Army Reserve Unit to serve in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan in a single tour of duty.

Watch video

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Joy, Relief Accompany 367th’s Return Home

By Ben Katzner
St. Cloud Times
December 6, 2010

Excerpts

You can’t blame the hundreds of people crammed into St. Cloud armory Sunday night for being a bit anxious. They’d been waiting for their loved ones in the U.S. Army Reserve’s 367th Engineer Battalion to come home for exactly 325 days, but the minutes leading up to their return were some of the most excruciating. …

During a brief welcome home speech, necks strained to peek over outstretched flags and cameras while children scurried to the tops of shoulders to get a better view. And then finally — jubilantly — the soldiers were released to their friends and family. …

More than 300 U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from the 367th Engineer Battalion are ending their yearlong tour of duty in Iraq. About 150 of those men and women made their way to St. Cloud on Sunday night.

The group was tasked with construction duties, surveying the area and providing support services such as food and transportation.

The 367th left for Iraq last January and trained at Fort Bliss, N.M., before arriving March 10 in Iraq. The 367th moved to Kuwait in mid-August and then the 492nd Engineer Company, part of the 367th, was sent to Afghanistan on assignment in late September. Nearly 150 of 492nd’s soldiers return to Mankato today.

It was only the second time in history a U.S. Army Reserve unit was deployed to participate in one war and then sent to another in a single tour. …

View St. Cloud Times photo gallery

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WCCO video: Soldiers Return to St. Cloud From Iraq

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — December 4, 2009

Anti-Obama Birther Ad


For large view, select “Slide” view mode and click “Fullscreen”

One year ago today, I reported that the national edition of the Washington Times featured a shameful full-page ad by the anti-Obama website ProtectOurLiberty.org, claiming that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. The ad copy claimed that under a 60-year-old British law, President Obama is a citizen of Britain and “is currently also a British protected person and/or a British citizen to this day.”

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — December 4, 2008

Coleman vs. Franken: ‘Flip a Coin’

Two years ago today, on Dec. 4 2008, I reported that New York University journalism professor Charles Seife wrote a New York Times op-ed column proposing an interesting resolution to the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota between incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken: cast a lot to determine the winner by chance. I also reported that Iraq’s third-largest city, Mosul, faces economic and sectarian political problems that could unravel even if the military campaign to secure Mosul succeeds.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brian Peterson from Karnes City, Texas, of 3rd Platoon, 302nd Military Police Company, aims with his rifle as black smoke fills the sky during a patrol 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 14, 2008. (Photo credit: Petros Giannakouris / AP)





2 Responses to “Coming Home from Iraq”
  1. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Coming Home Says:

    […] Coming Home from Iraq (Dec. 4, 2010) […]

  2. Immelman for Congress » Blog Archive » Screaming Eagles’ Year of Sacrifice Says:

    […] Coming Home from Iraq (Dec. 4, 2010) […]

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