Staff Sgt. Justin Hill spent two tough tours in Iraq. The first deployment felt like a year serving in the Wild West. The insurgency was at a full boil when he returned two years later.

And as 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division prepares for its third Iraq tour, and the 26-year-old Fort Lewis soldier wants to find out if all the hard work, the time away from family and the buddies lost on the battlefield were worth it.

"Everything you do takes time, and I want to see all the hard work we put in pay off," said Hill, a platoon sergeant from Texas. "The Iraqis want to take over their own situation. That’s cool. That’s understandable. We’ve come this far, but we need to help them get all the way there."

The brigade of about 4,000 soldiers is heading back for its third Iraq tour and cased its colors during a departure ceremony Friday at Watkins Field. Hill, who has served with the same company since the first deployment, will serve as a platoon sergeant in Diyala province, an area in the country’s east where his brigade has history.

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For a bit more about both the victim and the gunman in Wednesday's apparent murder-suicide at the Fort Lewis post exchange, check out my colleague Brian Everstine's article in today's paper.