Pa. troops will begin leaving Iraq soon
The largest Pennsylvania National Guard unit sent into combat since World War II will be coming home in the next few weeks.
The largest Pennsylvania National Guard unit sent into combat since World War II will be coming home in the next few weeks.
Advance elements of the 4,000-member 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team will start the homeward journey within days, and the whole brigade should be back by late next month, Col. Marc Ferraro said this morning in a telephone interview.
Ferraro, the brigade commander, said that his soldiers "have exceeded every expectation" in carrying a load of responsibilities rarely in history given to a Guard unit.
The 56th is the only one of the Army's seven elite Stryker brigades to be contained within a Guard division. The Stryker is a recent type of combat vehicle that looks like a tank but rolls on wheels instead of tracks.
The brigade, which is headquartered in Northeast Philadelphia but includes troops from across the state, left for Iraq in January. Since late February, it has been in charge of security in a wide swath of Iraq north of Baghdad.
One planeload at a time, the returning troops will fly home to Fort Dix in dribs and drabs over a several-week period. They will be held at Fort Dix for five to seven days of demobilization activities before being released from active duty.
