256th Tiger Brigade Guardsmen Returning Home

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The first returning members of the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are back from Iraq, but aren't yet home.

Staff Sgt. Denis Ricou says a few have completed demobilization training at Camp Shelby, Miss., and are scheduled back in Shreveport and Alexandria on Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau welcomed one group Friday night at the airport in Gulfport. Another group arrived two days earlier, and the rest will return from Iraq over the next few weeks.

The brigade's 3,000 soldiers left in January for their second tour in Iraq.

They were spread throughout the country on missions including base defense and entry control, convoy security, personal security, garrison command, special operation missions and unmanned aerial flight operations.