Back on United States Soil ... at last

Welcome Home!! God bless you, your family and your fellow Soldiers.

Enjoy your family.

Welcome home, Lieutenant!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo Moira

Lieutenant K,

I have not commented before but I wanted to let you know that I have been following your postings for a while now. I wanted to extend to you my best wishes, congratulations on a job well done and a HUGE Welcome Home!!

WOO HOO!!!!! Hugs all around....sorry we're not there to buy you a beer, or 10.

Congradulations sir! I know you must feel wonderful! I'm glad you and your unit made it home safe. Enjoy the pools, family and friends! They are the best thing's in the world! Welcome home Lt.

To the 222: Me and my family want to welcome you all home! We thank the good lord you all made it home safe. We pray that your leave will be blessed and your sleep sound!

• Welcome home soldiers!

• God Bless

LT Lee Kelley,

When I commented on your last post, I asked " Can there be any sweeter words than these?" I was referring to your title "A Final Note from the Al Anbar Province." Since then I have answered my own question with a resounding, "Yes!" That prior title was wonderful at the time but has been supplanted by today's banner headline: "Back on United States Soil ... at last." NOTHING Trumps That!! Welcome Home LT Lee Kelley. Welcome back to The Land of the Free, free because it is, as well, the Home of the Brave...men and women such as one Lee Kelley.

When the 2nd Battalion, 222nd Field Artillery, Utah Army National Guard reaches it's home in Salt Lake City, I imagine you will all be given the traditional welcome home reception with at least one brass band, a plentiful presence of the flag you fought for in Ramadi, Iraq, and cheers. Then on to the security and privacy of loving family and friends to truly assimilate that you are really at home and truly SAFE. Enjoy everything that speaks of home, your kids, your dogs, a beer or two, the mountains and the trees, everything, LT Kelley. You have bought the peace these speak of; you bought it for each of your readers as well and there is no repayment that meets the debt. I will just say as I have before, thank-you for your service and God bless you. What I do not have to say again is "Stay Safe!!"

However, it is truly incumbent on me to say one last thing on this wonderful and much anticipated day, Thank-you Almighty God for prayers that were answered.

Welcome home, sir. I am so happy you and your men made it stateside safely. I am sorry about your friend.

Now, enjoy your family. Get settled in. We will all still be here when you're ready to blog again.

Please, you and your men, be prepared for someone to get or have PTSD. Don't let pride stop you from getting help asap. That is the secret to winning that war. As I have PTSD I can say that is an accurate statement.

God blesss you aall. You are still and will remain in our prayers. We love you all. Thank you for your service and the sacrifices you and your families have made.

Welcome home Lieutenant K. Your beautiful writing has helped keep my spirits up. Looking forward to reading more once you've had a chance to reconnect.

Lee - I'm glad you are all back in the US, and hope you will soon be home with your families! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your sacrifice and hard work.

Congratulations to you and your men. You've inspired each other and countless others, including the many of us back home who have been following your progress and praying for your safe return, with your selfless and sacrificial service. I commend you all for a monumental job well done. May you enjoy each and every blessed detail as you return home and get reacclimated to a new "normal".

Alright!!!!!!!!! That's the kind of news we like to hear! Welcome Home, LT! Thank God you are home safe. ((Angel hugs))

A Huge Welcome Home, Sir! Thank you so much. Now...just enjoy!

Dear Lee.We are so thankful that you are back in the States.Our prayers for you and your men have been answered.Thank you for all you have done to keep us safe here at home.We would love to see you and the children,and our home will always be open to you.Love Mark and Norma.

Welcome home!! It must be both wonderful and strange at the same time. I hope your adjustment back to civilian life is smooth and easy...and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future. Right now, though, you just need to hold tightly to your family and enjoy life...God bless you!!

Congratulations on getting home! I hope your reintegration is easy and wonderful!

Happy for you and your guys, LT K.! Woohoo!!

• Enjoy your family and decompress, you so deserve it! Thank you all, SO VERY MUCH!!!

Welcome home and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Welcome Home!!! I've enjoyed reading your posts very much and am anxious to hear why lies ahead. God bless you & your family. Enjoy their sweet, warm smooches!!!

hi, i wondered if anyone could comment on this email i got the other day.

From: "Capt.Brown Hugh" Subject: PLEASE CONTACT ME

Please i am Captain Brown Smith of the US Marine currently serving in Iraq.

On Monday 19 June, 2006 we received an urgent call from northern Baghdad that some terrorist group camped there.Consequestly, my battallion were sent there to forestall their activities.

Sensing our presence, they opened fire on us.We returned fire on them,after which some of them were caught.After intense torture,they took us to Karbala near Baghdad.On reaching there they took us to a deserted building where they kept their weapons. Atfer intense search one of them took us to one of the rooms .

In the room were three metal boxes. I opened them to my amazement, they were loaded with the US dollars. I was dumbfounded, I asked one of them he told me that they were into illegal crude oil sales and also that they do receive financial support from other islamic fundamentalist groups.

On return to our base,i hid the metal boxes in my personal room as the squardon commandant.At night of the same day, I counted the money it amounted to $7.6 million USD in $100 denomination.

Now, I need a reliable person to send this money to, please give me your name, contact address,phone number and bank account number so that I can send the money if you are interested. You have 30%, while I have the rest. I will come down there immediately you receive it .I will even reign from my job.

Above all, try to keep this information secret and confidential Don't disclose it to anybody for security reasons and to protect my job with the US Marine.Please contact me with this email address:captbrownhugh@yahoo.com.

Yours sincerely, Captain Brown Hugh .

Freddy,

• It's a scam. Don't believe it, and I'd recommend you report it as spam through your e-mail provider.

Thank you for your service! God Bless to you and your family. Fall out and ENJOY!

So glad that you made it back safe and sound. I hope that you know that you are so very appreciated - I hope that you are surrounded by people who tell you daily how precious your service to this country has been. I am sorry to hear about the loss of your mother - but I am sure she is smiling on you now, and remember that she is never very far away. You have done this nation proud, thank you so much for your service. I hope that you will be able to re-acclimate back into life in the states with little resistance. If you ever need supportive people to talk to -- you won't have to look very far. Take care!

Happy to see you've been busy, enjoying being home. I'll assume that involves lots of kiddo hugs and making up for lost time. Thanks again Lee, for all that you sacrificed for the rest of us.

Stopped by after being out of town and I am very pleased to see you are home. Its late to do so but let me add my welcome back to those above and a sincere thank you for your service and sacrifice on our behalf. Hope you are having a wonderful time with your family; you deserve it. Look forward to hearing more about the last year and a half when you are ready to resume. Again welcome home!!!!!

Dear LT Lee Kelley and the 2nd Battalion, 222nd Field Artillery and your families, This is my first time to your site... May I Thank each one of you for the selfless sacrifices each one of you has endured.Welcome Home and best wishes to each of you with your readjustments back home. God Bless Sincerely Cathy Mass Soldiers Angel

Lt Kelly Let me start by giving you my condolences for the loss of your mother. I know that begin away makes things harder, I too have family members in the service. But I wanted to reach out to you in hopes that you could help me out. I'm a student at The Art Institute of San Diego California, going here for culinary. And in my college English class we are writing an essay in response to one of the blogs in the New York Times website. The approach I wanted to take was to cross reference your thoughts and your fellow bloggers with Tim O’Brian’s short story The Things They Carried. If you could give me your feedback on the physical and emotional things a soldier carries in this modern day, than the Vietnam conflict in the 70's. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you and maybe others. Carlos