In a speech to the 250 soldiers of the 81st Brigade Combat Team who returned home Saturday, Gov. Chris Gregoire repeated a theme that has been a constant of almost every address she has given to the Washington National Guard’s largest unit since it left for Iraq last year.

"As you come home, we are here to help you," she said at a homecoming ceremony on North Fort Lewis. "And to your family and friends who are here to greet you, we are here to help you in any way possible."

The help began at Fort McCoy, Wis., at a demobilization process that helps them ease back into civilian life. Washington is the first state to use the program for its soldiers.

But some of the soldiers who have returned complain the six-day process at Fort McCoy takes too long and is at the wrong time, while state officials say it’s the best way to reach everyone who needs help.

"It’s a painstaking process," said Spc. Frank Bonafe, a Washington D.C. resident serving with the 81st Brigade. "I’m not impressed by it. I like the idea of demobbing in your home state. (At Fort McCoy) You can’t go anywhere. You don’t know anybody. You just want to get out."

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