RETURNING TO IRAQ

And this won't be a popular position with some, but this is the right thing to do.

A member of the 1st Armored Division’s Baumholder-based 2nd Brigade, Ortiz has been home only about a month, among the lead troops originally sent home to prepare for the return of the rest of the division.

All that’s changed now, though, with news that the majority of “Old Ironsides” will serve up to four months beyond its one-year rotation.

Returning flights were halted last week, just prior to the Pentagon’s formal announcement on the extension, and now soldiers like Ortiz are on their way back to the war zone.

The first 90 troops returned to Iraq over the weekend, said division spokesman Sgt. Greg Withrow.

You see...the Pentagon didn't extend part of the 1st and 2d brigades...it extended the brigades. Period.

So those who returned with the ADVON to assist in preparing for the return of the main bodies...well, that mission is void now...at least until sometime in July.