NEW ORLEANS – Some members of the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are scheduled to return by bus to the 256th Brigade Headquarters armory in Lafayette on Wednesday.

These soldiers will have completed demobilization training in Camp Shelby, Miss., before returning to Louisiana, with the remainder of the brigade returning in different iterations during the month of December.

Next Wednesday, a group of nearly 20 guardsmen from Vermilion Parish will be arriving in Abbeville.

In January, the 256th IBCT mobilized and deployed approximately 3,000 troops to Iraq as they began their second tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The 256th’s Soldiers were spread throughout Iraq conducting various missions to include: base defense and entry control point operations, convoy security, personal security, garrison command, special operation missions and unmanned aerial flight operations.

Louisiana Guardsmen routinely interacted with personnel from the local Iraqi military, U.S. Embassy and United Nations within the International Zone, formerly known as the Green Zone.

During this 2010 deployment, they helped set the conditions for the responsible withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces and equipment as they transitioned to Operation New Dawn in September 2010.

WHERE: 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Headquarters Armory, 1806 Surrey Street, Lafayette, La., 70508