Miss. guard battalion back from Iraq - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Miss. guard battalion back from Iraq

McCOMB, Miss. — They were the words that nearly 1,200 soldiers in the McComb-based National Guard battalion and their families and friends have been waiting to hear: “Everybody’s home.”

Lt. Col. Jeff Van said Saturday that the last of the Mississippi National Guard 1st Battalion, 155th Infantry Regiment, returned to Camp Shelby on Friday for a five-day period before their deployment formally ends.

The battalion mobilized for its second deployment to Iraq in April as part of the 3,500-soldier 155th Brigade Combat Team.

Van says that, unlike the unit’s first deployment in 2005, everyone came home this time. He says there’s less violence now in Iraq, and that the MRAPs used are much safer than the Humvees used in 2005.