Staff Sgt. Derrick Grasty squinted against the blinding light, walked down the metal steps from the passenger jet and shook hands with dignitaries at McChord Air Force Base to greet his flight.

About 15 seconds later, reality sunk in.

The Lacey resident threw his arms skyward and let out an ear-splitting yell. A colleague from the 81st Brigade Combat Team smiled and patted Gratsy on the back. Another pumped his fist into the air.

"I just couldn’t help myself," Gratsy said later. "It just felt too good."

He and hundreds of others had good reason to celebrate Wednesday: The first group of the 81st Brigade, about 150 Washington National Guard soldiers, returned home from an 11-month mobilization that sent them to Iraq.

The brigade of 3,500 soldiers – about 2,400 of whom are from Washington – served across Iraq, and most of the soldiers guarded contractor-driven supply convoys that delivered water, fuel and other supplies to American military bases.

Other units of the 81st Brigade were tasked with running daily operations of bases, performing base-defense patrols and providing personal security detail.

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Tom Ricks, who has been digging into what really happened during the battle of Wanat, Afghanistan, posted a letter he received from the mother of Cpl. Jason Bogar, a Seattle soldier killed last July. He was among nine Americans killed in the attack.

Check out Ricks' work when you get a chance. It's a good read.

Family members of deployed or deploying service members would be guaranteed two weeks of unpaid leave under legislation introduced Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Adam Smith.

The bill, named the Military Family Leave Act of 2009, provides two weeks for the spouse, children or parents of a service member who received notification of a deployment or is currently deployed.

Current law allows military families similar time off for various reasons connected with a deployment, but not all employees are eligible. The proposed legislation, also pending in the Senate, would close that loophole.

"As a member of Congress who represents thousands of military personnel and their families, I see the stress deployment can put on a family," Smith, D-Tacoma, said in a statement. "Military families make a tremendous sacrifice for our country and they should not have to be concerned about how their employer will respond if a loved one is deployed. This bill relieves some of that stress by ensuring family members have adequate time away from work to spend time with their deployed or deploying loved one, allowing them ample time to handle issues that arise over the course of a deployment."