SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - The Georgia National Guard says
citizen-soldiers from the 48th Infantry Brigade will begin coming
home next week from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.

The first group of returning soldiers, many from the
Savannah-based 118th Field Artillery Regiment, are scheduled to
arrive Tuesday at Fort Stewart.

Lt. Col. Ken Baldowski, a National Guard spokesman, says the
remainder of the brigade's 3,200 troops will arrive in waves
through March and into April.

The Georgia guardsmen began deploying a year ago to Afghanistan, where they trained Afghan police and security forces.

Last week, five of the brigade's soldiers were injured in a suicide bombing at an American base near the Pakistan border.