Washington’s 81st Brigade to return this summer

TACOMA, Wash. — The Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team is already making plans to return home this summer. It mobilized last August for a yearlong deployment in Iraq. An officer, Maj. Harry York of Auburn, told The Tacoma News Tribune the brigade will come together in Kuwait. Then soldiers will have a 10-day transition at Fort McCoy, Wis., before returning to Fairchild or McChord Air Force bases. About 2,400 of the brigade’s 3,500 soldiers are from Washington. Units from the 81st are serving at bases across Iraq, often attached to other brigades. The 81st spent about 18 months in Iraq in its first deployment in 2004-05.