Dustin Zabinski will return from his second tour in Iraq for a short reunion with his brother Travis Zabinski, who’ll soon depart with the 327th Engineer Company, U.S. Army Reserves.

For their father, Chuck Zabinski, this week will be one of juxtaposition as he sends one son off to a war zone and welcomes another home.

“I’ll only see him for a day” Travis Zabinski, 26, said. “All I’ll be able to do is say hi.”

Dustin will take Travis’ place in the La Crosse home they purchased together.

Each time one of the boys is deployed, Chuck Zabinski goes on with his business throughout the year and prays they come back safe, he said.

The Zabinskis and families of another 30 soldiers set for deployment assembled Saturday at the Onalaska Armory for a solemn send-off. The reservists will head to Fort Bliss, Texas, before most continue on to Iraq in late winter or early spring.

The majority of soldiers will be paired with a sister company out of Mankato, Minn., assigned for construction missions in Iraq, while some will be deployed to Afghanistan, said 1st Lt. Levi Rognholt.

Another pair of brothers were prepared to leave together for their second tours, but for Sgt. Danny Limberg, 36, of Onalaska, it’s different this time.

Hie wife, Deb Limberg, 35, is pregnant with their first child — a daughter, Cassandra, due Jan. 30.

“I’m worried if she’s going to be taken care of. But all I can do is hope” he said, adding the news they were expecting and that he would be redeployed came within days of each other.

“That’s part of the military life I guess,” Deb said. “In a few weeks I’ll probably be a mess.”

They gathered for a short ceremony arranged for family members who wouldn’t be able to travel the more than three hours to Mankato. State Sen. Dan Kapanke and Logistics Health CEO Don Weber each offered their appreciation in brief addresses to the troops.

“As you stand at the start of this journey, know that no matter where in the world your boots march to the rhythm of justice, you never walk alone,” said Weber, who served in Vietnam.

“You have displayed what the Bible says is the greatest love, and that is you’re willing to sacrifice for the sake of mankind,” Kapanke told the reservists.

Judy Feickert, who drove up from Postville, Iowa, for her grandson’s departure, wiped away tears with one hand and shielded the sun with the other while they spoke.

It was a lovely send-off, she said, reaching for her 18-year-old grandson Jeremy Justice.

He wants to be strong throughout this and doesn’t like to be touched much, she said.

“But he caved a few times this week and let me hug him. You know how they are; whenever you get a chance you grab it,” she said.

Justice’s mom, in contrast, was dry-eyed and cheerful.

“I’m hiding it well,” Jennifer Herrera said.

She was scared, but proud when her young son enlisted. She was there for him Saturday, knowing she could take him home for a few more days. And she’ll be there for him at a deployment ceremony next week in Mankato, when she won’t.

“He told me ‘I feel like I’m doing what I was born to do’,” Herrera said. “Do I like it? No. But I respect him.”