Staff Sgts. Erika Lee, top, and Nicole Siegler made angels on the lawn at Volk Field near Tomah, Wis.They were among the first of 2,600 Minnesota National Guard soldiers coming home this month after nearly two years on active duty.

CAMP DOUGLAS, WIS. — Minnesota National Guard soldiers Christina Brinig and Cara Blazei marched off a chartered DC-10 Tuesday, turned in their M-16 rifles and started rolling around in a grassy patch next to the Volk Field airstrip in central Wisconsin.

"I won’t miss Iraq, but I’ll miss these people," said Blazei, 21, a maintenance specialist from Minneapolis. "Everyone here is like family."

After 22 months, including 16 months in Iraq, Brinig, Blazei and about 200 other National Guard troops were back on Midwestern soil as the first major wave of 2,600 Red Bull Brigade soldiers from Minnesota began returning home.

Two more jets filled with soldiers touched down Tuesday night at the Wisconsin military base 180 miles east of the Twin Cities.  …more