After two flights to Volk Field near Camp Douglas Monday, all but 20 of the approximately 3,200 state Wisconsin National Guard soldiers that have been on a nearly yearlong mission with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team are back in the United States. The group spent most of their time in Iraq.

Two flights Monday wrapped up the soldiers’ return home with arrival of about 500 soldiers, mostly members of support battalions from Janesville, Baraboo and Madison.

An additional flight has been scheduled this weekend to bring back about 20 soldiers from the 32nd Infantry Brigade Headquarters who have spent the final days of their tour in Kuwait coordinating flights for the returning soldiers.

Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie on Monday said the two arrivals at Volk Field went smoothly. “Every single one of them is special in its own way,” Guthrie said.

West Salem resident Katie Gerke’s sons were among the 750 troops from the Onalaska-based Company A, 32nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion returning Thursday and Friday from their yearlong deployment to Iraq. Despite the cold and early hour — the plane landed about 1:30 a.m. Friday — the tent was packed with military families eager to spend a short time with their soldiers before the troops traveled to Fort McCoy for five days of demobilization.

Gerke’s sons, 21 and 24, were more than 6,000 miles away from home in Iraq, but at least they were together, Gerke said. “Both of the guys are strong. They knew what they were getting themselves into.”

Michael Bahr, the younger of the two, said it was comforting to know Dylan Bahr was nearby, even if they saw each other only once a week.

“I joined (the National Guard) because I wanted to be on this deployment with him,” Michael said. “I found out he was deploying again and I wanted to go with him.”

Gerke said she mostly connected with her sons through their significant others, Dylan’s wife and Michael’s girlfriend.

“I did get the obligatory dead or alive call every other week or so,” Gerke said.

The women were by her side Friday morning at Volk Field in Camp Douglas as her two sons and other Wisconsin Guardsmen returned from the yearlong deployment.

Most family members awaiting the troops’ return were able to breathe a big sigh of relief when calls started coming in Thursday afternoon saying the soldiers had touched down in Maine.

The Iraq mission represents the largest operational deployment of the Wisconsin National Guard since World War II.

The mobilization began last January with three weeks of training at Camp Blanding in Florida and two months of drills at Camp McGregor in New Mexico before the soldiers shipped out to Iraq in May.

They operated detention camps, trained Iraqi prison guards, ran Baghdad’s International Zone and provided security services.

The soldiers spend several days at Fort McCoy in the demobilization process, Guthrie said, then be returned to their hometown armories before being released from active duty.