Readying for the return from Iraq, the commander of the 29th Brigade Combat Team said the past 16 months of mobilization saw demanding training and a challenging yearlong deployment for Hawai'i's citizen soldiers.

"Shortly, we will turn the page on our final chapter of our odyssey," commander Brig. Gen. Joseph Chaves said in the brigade's internal newsletter. "Awaiting us is a safe passage home through Kuwait to one of six demobilization centers."

The end of a historic deployment for the brigade — its first since the Vietnam War — has brought reflection on successes and loss.

Sixteen soldiers, most of them from a California battalion originally attached to the Hawai'i brigade, were killed in Iraq. A total of 83 soldiers were awarded Purple Hearts for wounds received in action.

The famed "Go For Broke" 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, nominated for a Meritorious Unit Commendation, detained a total of 66 individuals, recovered 650 artillery rounds and rockets, and engaged in a three-hour firefight on Aug. 17 outside Logistics Support Area Anaconda north of Baghdad.

Soldiers involved in the firefight were part of a U.S. task force crossing a bridge leading into the village of Al Duluiya when lead elements were attacked with small arms, medium machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Over the deployment, the 100th Battalion lost four Army reseverists — one from Kansas, two from Saipan and one from American Samoa.

Sgt. Deyson K. Cariaga, 20, of Kalihi, was the only Hawai'i citizen-soldier killed in Iraq. The Hawai'i Army National Guard soldier died July 8 when a roadside bomb exploded beneath his Humvee near LSA Anaconda.

In a message to the troops, Gov. Linda Lingle said, "You have not only honorably and courageously served the United States, but you have also made history and touched lives.

"From securing areas (near Balad) for residents to vote on the Iraqi constitutional referendum, to delivering shoes and clothing to Iraqi children, and spreading the aloha spirit through demonstrating the shaka and sharing your provisions, you have made an invaluable impact and lasting impression."

About 425 soldiers have returned from Kuwait, and about 1,700 Hawai'i National Guard and Reserve soldiers are packing up to leave Iraq for Kuwait and are expected to start arriving in Hawai'i shortly after New Year's Day.

"In retrospect, it's hard to believe that our deployment is nearly over," Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Inouye said in the brigade's newsletter.

Among the memories for the troops is training in the freezing deserts of Texas and New Mexico in fall 2004, initially without proper cold-weather wear, at a pace some complained was almost slavelike, and over which hard feelings still linger.

Once in Iraq, Hawai'i soldiers were split off from the 29th Brigade and reported to other commands. The 100th Battalion was under the tactical control of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division.

The 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry, of the Hawai'i Guard, based at Camp Victory near Baghdad International Airport, was under the command of the 18th Airborne Corps.

The Koa battalion operated 10 "entry control points" and 34 perimeter towers; conducted outer- and inner-perimeter patrols; and responded to 14 indirect fire attacks, two vehicle-borne suicide attacks and seven small-arms attacks against its towers, according to Hawai'i National Guard officials.

Task Force Koa soldiers also guarded part of "Route Irish," a seven-mile stretch between the Green Zone in Baghdad and the international airport that had the reputation as being one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in Iraq because of the frequency of bombings and shootings.

The 29th Support Battalion, based at LSA Anaconda, and another major unit of the Hawai'i National Guard in Iraq, included the Lava Medical Clinic, which treated 16,339 patients. Combat medics treated 1,299 people, many of them Iraqis.

At Anaconda, the 229th Military Intelligence Company conducted 325 missions with Air Force personnel in an effort to stem attacks on the base. The joint operations resulted in 19 "high value" individuals being detained.

Soldiers with the unit also had a hand in the capture of two alleged Iraqi insurgents believed to have taken part in the July killing of Cariaga, who was with the military intelligence company.

Cariaga was working with Air Force counterparts and was driving the third of seven Humvees back to base when a 155 mm artillery round buried in the pavement exploded practically beneath him.

Guard officials said Mainland soldiers originally attached to the 29th Brigade from states including California, Alaska, Oregon, Minnesota, Vermont and Washington will return to demobilization centers on the Mainland.

Soldiers from Hawai'i and the Pacific — among the latter, many from the 100th Battalion from Guam, American Samoa and Saipan — will return to Hawai'i and go through a weapons turn-in, briefings, counseling and a mental-health screening over about two weeks before returning to civilian life.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.