Next stage of Wisconsin Guard deployment is that first year back home

Veterans coming back from long overseas tours must cope with changes they’ve undergone in dangerous, foreign environments, and in the way life at home has changed as well.
Read the Wisconsin State Journal story here.

500 more Wisconsin National Guard back from Iraq soon

Another big chunk of the biggest operational deployment of Wisconsin National Guard troops since World War II will be coming back home on Wednesday.

About 500 of the more than 3,000 soldiers in the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will be returning to Wisconsin on Wednesday after spending the past eight months in Iraq.

Two flights are expected to arrive at Volk Field near Fort McCoy on Wednesday, said Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie of the Guard's public affairs office in a news release.

For a story in The Capital Times click here.

For La Crosse Tribune coverage of the homecoming for 290 Wisconsin National Guard soldiers Monday click here.

For Wisconsin State Journal coverage of the first wave of 115 returning Wisconsin Guard soldiers on Tuesday, Jan. 5, click here.

For video from The Capital Times click here.

Fort Atkinson recalls fallen Marine as good, quiet kid

Lance Cpl. Jacob A. Meinert was killed when he stepped on a landmine while serving with the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, a family member said.
For Wisconsin State Journal coverage click here.
For Racine Journal-Times coverage click here.

They're back

The first wave of Wisconsin National Guard soldiers is scheduled to return home Tuesday after a yearlong deployment that included seven months in Iraq, officials announced this afternoon. The 3,200 soldiers made up the largest operational deployment of the Wisconsin Guard since World War II.

Click here for continuing coverage from the Wisconsin State Journal.

Holiday greetings to Wisconsin from Baghdad

Members of the Wisconsin National Guard Joint Area Support Group - Central in at Forward Operating Base Prosperity in Baghdad sent home this holiday greeting, recorded and transmitted by the National Guard Public Affairs Office.

News: Wisconsin vets board vows to help pay for costly services

From the Associated Press: The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs is taking steps to allow residents to continue living at its nursing home in Union Grove despite steep rate increases set for January.
Residents had complained bitterly about the increases of up to 37 percent and some warned they would be forced to move out.
The agency’s board agreed Friday to use reserve funds to enroll qualifying residents in an aid program that will pay for expenses they cannot afford. For those who do not qualify, the agency will temporarily suspend the collection of payments owed.
Board members said those steps should allow residents to stay until they can consider whether to roll back the increase at a meeting in January. Secretary Ken Black warned, however, the additional aid could lead to a budget shortfall later.

Wisconsin military families fight the war at home

In case you missed it, the State Journal told the stories of several Wisconsin National Guard families in Sunday's paper.

At bedtime, 6-year-old Tyler Freeman snuggles up to a little armor against the fear and sadness he feels about his father's yearlong military mission in Iraq.

"He has been crying less at night since his father sent him a shirt to sleep with," said his mother, Laura Freeman, of Fort Atkinson.

Over the past 11 months, Wisconsin families have found many ways to cope with the deployment of more than 3,200 citizen-soldiers, the largest overseas operational mobilization of the state Guard since World War II.

Read the story here.