144th may be coming home

Credit: — Deborah Buckhalter / Floridan

This soldier and many others hugged their loved ones goodbye before they departed Jackson County for a year’s deployment to Iraq last July. A Florida National Guard spokesman said Tuesday that they may soon be able to give them welcome-home hugs.

By: Deborah Buckhalter | Jackson County Floridan
Published: May 26, 2010

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Jackson County may soon be planning a welcome-home party for its deployed National Guard troops.
The soldiers of the 144th Transportation Company are expected to be back in the United States by the end of June, according to Florida National Guard spokesman Master Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa.
He reports that they will likely first go to Camp Atterbury, Ind., for a brief demobilization and outprocessing procedure.
From there, they’ll head home. He estimates they will be back in Jackson County about a week after they touch down in Indiana. That puts them on track for a possible Independence Day arrival.
More than half the members of the 144th were deployed. They left in early July 2009, and trained 48 days at Camp Atterbury before they moved out to Iraq.
For deployment, the 144th merged with the 1218th Transportation Company out of West Palm Beach.
It is the 144th’s first deployment since 2004, when the troops were also sent to Iraq for more than a year.