Marines from a Washington reserve unit are returning from a seven-month deployment to Iraq tomorrow. Friends and family will welcome them at a ceremony at the Marine Home Site Training Center at Fort Lewis.

The 45 Marines, all from Western Washington, serve with the Headquarters and Service Company of the 4th Landing Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group. They deployed to Anbar Province in April and worked as a provisional security company.

The headquarters company of the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade has arrived in Iraq.

The company will run day-to-day life at Camp Ramadi in central Iraq, said brigade spokesman Maj. Scott Taylor said.

Other units are expected to work convoy security.

“All is well and morale is high,” Taylor wrote in an e-mail. “Good things are happening and our focus is fulfilling our obligation to manage the life support for the tenants of Camp Ramadi, among other things.”

Taylor said the brigade is tasked with providing services like housing, making improvements to the base and force protection.

“The headquarters section is made up of a gifted group of soldiers who have a very diverse set of military skills as well as a very diverse set of civilian skills,” he write. “That is what makes the National Guard so unique and an asset for this type of mission. The civilian skills are proving to be just as valuable in this mission as well as the military ones.”

Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment is scheduled to serve in Mosul, The Olympian reported in August. And the unit might have already arrived, according to an Indiana newspaper.

The Evansville Courier & Press said the unit relieving the 1st Battalion, 163rd Field Artillery Regiment of the Indiana National Guard in Iraq's third-largest city – described only as a unit from the Washington National Guard – was scheduled to arrive as early as Wednesday.

Taylor wouldn’t confirm the report and said he wasn’t prepared to release specifics on where units will be assigned.

The 3,400-person brigade will be split into several units and spread across northern Iraq, brigade commander Col. Ronald Kapral said in August before the unit left for additional training at Fort McCoy, Wis. The soldiers, about 2,400 of whom are from Washington, began arriving in Kuwait in early October.

At a media weekend at the Yakima Training Center in early August, Kapral said the unit would be in Kuwait until late October and would deploy to northern Iraq shortly after.

This is the 81st Brigade's second deployment to Iraq. During its first tour, in 2004-05, soldiers were primarily involved in force protection Balad and various assignments in Baghdad. Ten of the brigade’s members died during its first deployment.

Could a Washington National Guard battalion be heading to Mosul?

The 81st Brigade is in Kuwait, preparing to soon enter Iraq. Its commander, Col. Ronald Kapral, has previously said the unit will serve throughout northern Iraq, mostly working convoy security.

The Guard isn’t saying where troops will be stationed. But an article from the Evansville Courier & Press gives hint that at least a battalion of Washington soldiers could be heading to Mosul.

The article talks about the upcoming homecoming of the 1st Battalion, 163rd Field Artillery, who are serving as part of a call-up of a brigade of Indiana National Guard soldiers. And while it doesn't specifically state the unit is from the 81st Brigade, that's the only Washington Guard unit preparing to serve in Iraq that could fit the void left by the Indiana soldiers.

From the story:

For some time, the coming-home date has fluctuating. Soldiers knew the Indiana National Guard was aiming for deployments of about a year, including training and demobilization, but Haywood said the end date changed frequently. At first it was mid-December, then late-November and then early November before the latest incarnation.

But with a replacement unit from the Washington National Guard expected to arrive on base as early as today, (Capt. Matthew) Haywood said the 163rd is confident about the most recent departure plan.

"I hope that we're close enough now that we've pretty much got it nailed down," he said. "I think that's the case."

A call to the Washington National Guard public affairs office was directed to the spokesman for the 81st Brigade, who couldn't immediately be reached. (I'll update this as soon as I hear anything.) But until then, keep in mind this hasn't been confirmed.

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