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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Hundreds of Army medics gathered Friday to formally say goodbye before their second trip to the Middle East, as 1,100 Stryker brigade soldiers arrived back at Fort Lewis after a year in Iraq.
“This is kind of a bittersweet morning,” Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, the post commander, noted in his remarks to the outbound troops of the 62nd Medical Brigade and their families.
Over the next several weeks some 800 soldiers from the 62nd will head back to year-long assignments in Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar. About half will make their second trip to either the Middle East or Afghanistan since the onset of the U.S. war on terrorism in October 2001, officials said.
Other units across the Army are also due for return trips to Iraq, most notably the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Ga. They captured Baghdad in April 2003 and spent the next five months patrolling the Iraqi capital before coming home in August. They’re due to return as soon as next month.[...]
The 62nd and its subordinate units operated across Iraq and Kuwait in 2003. They convoyed across Iraq, treated 3,500 coalition soldiers, flew hundreds of helicopter evacuation missions and inspected more than 40 hospitals and clinics in northern Iraq, all without losing any soldiers.
The headquarters company and other units set up in Mosul and worked there until mid-August. Mosul is also where the returning Stryker soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division spent most of their year in Iraq.
With Friday’s returns, about 3,000 of the 4,000 Stryker troops are home. The last are due by the end of next week.
They were relieved earlier this month by their fellow Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.