Nearly 630 Iowa soldiers who have been deployed to the Middle East for the past 10 months are returning home.
The soldiers returning to Iowa include a group of about 110 men and women from Davenport, 130 from both Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, and 250 from Waterloo.
The Iowa Army National Guard is hosting modified community welcome home ceremonies for the soldiers, who are from the 1st Battalion “Ironman” 133rd Infantry Regiment.
Due to health concerns associated with the pandemic, the ceremonies will not be open to the public, but they will be live-streamed for the public to view. The first welcome home event will be held in Waterloo tomorrow at noon.
Others will take place in Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Dubuque before a second ceremony is held in Waterloo on April 13th. The Ironman Battalion supported Operation Spartan Shield in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. According to the Iowa Army National Guard, this was the fifth federal mobilization for the Ironman Battalion since 2000, including a nearly 22-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Sept. 2005 through Aug. 2007.
(By Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Waterloo)