Beach reservists who served in Iraq returning today

Members of the 229th Military Police Company, a Virginia National Guard Unit that deployed to Iraq in October, are scheduled to return home today.

The Virginia Beach unit has about 120 soldiers from all over Virginia. Approximately 80 soldiers from Hampton Roads and Richmond are scheduled to arrive at Birdneck Elementary School in Virginia Beach around noon to be reunited with their families. They mobilized for federal service last August.

The unit was expected to provide police training to the Iraqi police, but once in Iraq, it was also tapped for other missions, like providing route security for Vice President Joe Biden’s visit in January. Soldiers completed more than 400 combat patrols, traveling more than 100,000 miles on Iraqi roads.

In March, during a six-day period of national elections, soldiers from the 229th helped maintain security, living with their Iraqi police counterparts at patrol headquarters.

No one in the company was killed or wounded in action during the company’s tour of duty. Its soldiers were awarded 11 Combat Action Badges, 22 Bronze Star Medals, one Meritorious Service Medal and 107 Army Commendation Medals.