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Braley calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, today released the following statement calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan: “I believe the time has come for us to begin an immediate...

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Ottumwa airman killed in Afghanistan

An Ottumwa native was killed in Afghanistan Thursday while serving in the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Defence announced Friday night. Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Hamski, 28, died when enemy forces...

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Late soldier’s brother feels infantry’s pull

Shell Rock, Ia. – Five weeks ago, Spc. Joe Nichols decided he couldn’t speak at his brother Don’s funeral without falling apart. Today, he can declare in a steady voice that he hopes to transfer into...

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Dam to Dam at Bagram

    Soldiers and civilians at Afghanistan participated Saturday in a “shadow” version of Des Moines’ famous Dam to Dam run. As in Des Moines, the runners at Bagram could choose between 5k and 20k runs....

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Blast injures 4 Iowa National Guard soldiers in Afghanistan

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Army National Guard says four Guard members were wounded in Afghanistan when their vehicle struck a mine in Laghman Province. A Guard news release says the blast...

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Iowa Guard, allies kill more than 100 Taliban

Iowa National Guard and Afghan Army troops killed more than 100 Taliban fighters without losing any of their own soldiers in a firefight late last month, according to a Waterloo Courier story. The...

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Bullet passes through helmet, soldier barely hurt

An Iowa National Guard soldier had an insurgent’s bullet pass through his helmet during a recent firefight, but he suffered little more than a burn mark on top of his head. Spc. Tom Albers, 20, of...

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Guard, employers discuss jobs for returning troops

Iowa National Guard leaders are ramping up efforts to ensure jobs will be available for soldiers returning from Afghanistan this summer. About 2,800 troops will be coming back to Iowa over the next six...

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Iowa Guard agricultural team coming home Saturday

About 60 soldiers and airmen who have been in Afghanistan helping residents develop their agricultural efforts will officially come home Saturday in Johnston. A ceremony recognizing the 734th...

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NYT highlights death of female MP attached to Iowa Guard

The death of a female MP attached to the Iowa Guard’s 1-133rd Battalion illustrates how women soldiers increasingly face combat dangers, a New York Times story says. The story quotes Iowa Lt. Col....

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Wounded Iowans: Don’t expect quick end to Afghan fighting

Two wounded Iowa National Guardsmen said Wednesday night that President Obama is right to push the Afghan government to take more responsibility for its country’s security, but they said Americans...

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Guard troops reflect on service as they finish tour

Iowa National Guard troops are reflecting on their contributions as they finish their deployment in eastern Afghanistan. Some of the roughest service was at Combat Outpost Najil, a small, remote base...

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National Guard “Dirt Warriors” celebrate homecoming in Johnston

Aiden Parmenter couldn’t wait. The 3-year-old boy broke rank midway through a major general’s speech. He hopped off his father’s lap and ran across the gymnasium floor to his grandmother, Lt. Col. Mary...

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Gunfight in Afghanistan kills Iowa soldier, wounds another

An Iowa National Guard soldier from Cedar Rapids was one of two Americans shot and killed by a national policeman in Afghanistan on Saturday. Another Iowa soldier was wounded as he exchanged fire with...

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Guard homecoming ceremonies start Thursday

Iowa National Guard troops will start returning home from Afghanistan Thursday, in the first three of nearly three dozen ceremonies. More than 2,800 Iowa Guard troops n started serving in Afghanistan...

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Watch live: Iowa National Guard Johnston homecoming

3 welcome ceremonies set for today Three ceremonies will be held today welcoming Iowa National Guard troops home from Afghanistan: – Cedar Rapids: 11:30 a.m., Prairie Point Middle School gym. About 50...

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The first wave of Iowa troops: Almost…home…

What’s a couple more hours after nearly a year at war? That’s the feeling at the gym at Johnston Senior High School as military families wait for 70 Iowa National Guard soldiers to return from their...

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Their troops are home, and the families can breathe a little easier

“Captain Bonifazi!” the Iowa National Guardsman shouted into the microphone. “Take charge of your unit!” The tall, stone-faced soldier, Capt. Nicholas Bonifazi of Hiawatha, turned to the 70 soldiers in...

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Homecoming in Boone: Iowa Guard soldiers return from Afghanistan

About 85 members of the Iowa Guard’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company ended their yearlong deployment in Afghanistan and reunited with loved ones during a homecoming ceremony in the Boone High...

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Camp Dodge museum adds Obama portrait

The military museum at Camp Dodge in Johnston has added a presidential portrait to its wall after an unpleasant exchange between a visitor and a volunteer last month. Vietnam U.S. Navy veteran Jake...

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Funeral, homecomings set for Monday, Tuesday

The funeral for Sgt. 1st Class Terryl Pasker, who was killed last Saturday in Afghanistan, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at the River of Life Ministries in Cedar Rapids. Burial will be in Mount...

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Soldier back home after Afghanistan shooting

Marshalltown, Ia. – Here’s how determined Todd Eipperle is: You can shoot him in one hip and in the other knee, and he’ll still find a way to bounce his baby granddaughter on his leg. He performed the...

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At funeral, Iowa soldier remembered for church leadership, big appetite

Cedar Rapids, Ia. — Terryl Pasker couldn’t stand the thought of his Iowa National Guard unit returning to Afghanistan without him. “He could have stayed home, and no one would have blamed him,” his...

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Two more Guard companies coming home Wednesday

The Iowa National Guard has scheduled two more homecoming ceremonies for troops returning from Afghanistan. About 130 members of the 1-168th Battalion’s D Company are to be welcomed back at 3 p.m....

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Four Guard units to return Thursday, Friday

Four more public homecoming ceremonies will be held Thursday and Friday for Iowa National Guard soldiers returning from Afghanistan. About 50 members of the 832nd Engineer Company are to be welcomed...

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Two cavalry units coming home Saturday

About 120 members of the Iowa National Guard are to be welcomed home Saturday at Camp Dodge in Johnston. The soldiers, from Troops A and B of the 1-113th Cavalry, are among more than 2,800 Guard...

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Homecomings slated in C.R., Davenport

The Iowa National Guard has announced two more homecoming ceremonies for troops returning from Afghanistan. About 70 soldiers from Company B of the 334th Brigade Support Battalion are scheduled to be...

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Two homecomings set for Friday

Two more Iowa National Guard homecomings have been set for Friday. About 70 Iowa National Guard soldiers will be welcomed home in Cedar Rapids. The ceremony, which is to start at 12:30 p.m. at the...

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Two Oklahoma troops killed in Afghan area Iowans recently left

Two members of the Oklahoma National Guard unit that recently replaced an Iowa Guard brigade in Afghanistan were killled by a bomb Friday. The soldiers were identified as 2nd Lt. Jered Ewy, 33, of...

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Third Oklahoma soldier dies in Afghan area Iowans patrolled

The Oklahoma National Guard brigade that recently replaced Iowa Guard troops in Afghanistan has lost a third soldier. The Tulsa World newspaper reported this morning that Staff Sgt. Kirk Owen, 37, of...

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Oklahoma Guard loses 4th soldier in Paktia province

Tragedy continues to strike the Oklahoma National Guard unit that recently replaced Iowa troops in eastern Afghanistan. The Army announced Friday that a fourth Oklahoma Guard soldier in less than a...

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VA director: We’re working to clear claims backlog

The Department of Veterans Affairs is installing a computer system that should help reduce a huge backlog of disability claims from wounded soldiers, but it’s impossible to say when the problem will be...

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Three more Oklahoma guardsmen die in Afghanistan

Three more soldiers have been killed from the Oklahoma brigade that replaced the Iowa National Guard in Afghanistan this summer. The 2,200 member Oklahoma Guard brigade has now lost 10 soldiers in...

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Run/walk will support families of fallen troops

Iowa service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will be remembered Sunday in a fund-raising event at Saylorville Lake. Organizers say 450 people have signed up for the second annual “Remembrance...

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Three employers lauded for supporting Guard, reserves

Gov. Terry Branstad honored three Iowa employers this week for their support of members of the National Guard and military reserves. The awards went to The Principal Financial Group and the Davis Brown...

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Iowa Guardsman to receive Bronze Star for heroism today

An Iowa National Guard soldier will be awarded the Bronze Star in a public ceremony in Marshalltown this afternoon. Master Sgt. Todd Eipperle was wounded July 9 in Afghanistan during an attack by an...

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Guard’s Afghan deployment the subject of IPTV program

Iowa Public Television will air a program this week about the Iowa National Guard’s 2011 deployment to Afghanistan. The program, “Iowa Soldiers Remember Afghanistan,” will run at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and...

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IPTV Guard documentary available online

Iowa Public Television’ s half-hour documentary about the Iowa National Guard’s deployment to Afghanistan debuted Thursday night and is available online. The program, “Iowa Soldiers Remember...

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Soldiers return from Iraq in time for Thanksgiving

Soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard’s 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, based out of Davenport, will be returning to the state on Wednesday following a tour of duty in Iraq. The 75...

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Garber Guardsman home from hospital, but 60 others remain

Cpl. Adam Eilers is finally home from war. Eilers, 24, of Garber had been in government hospitals since last February, when a Taliban bomb blew up the armored truck carrying him and two other Iowa...

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Iowa staff sergeant recognized for leading men despite gunshot wound

An Iowa National Guard staff sergeant who continued to lead his men in battle despite a gunshot wound has been awarded the highest honor bestowed on any of the 2,800 Iowa troops who served in...

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CBS flying Ankeny Army captain to N.Y.C. for national awards ceremony

A “60 Minutes” correspondent has invited an Army captain from Iowa to accompany her onstage in New York this week when she accepts a prestigious award for a story about the harrowing duty the officer’s...

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Iowa Guard jets providing air cover for U.S., Afghan troops

Iowa National Guard fighter pilots are attacking Taliban insurgents with bombs or scaring them off with the thunder of jet engines, their commander said from Afghanistan today. About 300 members of the...

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Soldier killed in Korean War laid to rest at home in Iowa at last

Updated at 2:40 p.m. PLEASANTVILLE, Iowa – Sgt. First Class Edris Arthur Viers died in a massacre in a riverbed in Korea 61 years ago. He was interred there and then, years later, exhumed, examined and...

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Iowans are behind you, Guard troops are told as they head to Afghanistan

On this day, 60 Iowa National Guard soldiers could see that their service would be appreciated. Nearly 1,000 people crowded into a hall at Camp Dodge in Johnston Tuesday to see the soldiers off before...

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Giant American flag at Paul Ryan event blocks Obama supporter’s windows

A giant American flag hangs at a Paul Ryan event in Adel on Wednesday, which kept one Barack Obama supporter’s windows out of the gaze of media cameras. A woman sat by the windows listening to Ryan’s...

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100 Iowa Guard members say tearful goodbyes

Ottumwa, Ia. – The war goes on. Nine years ago, the Alafa family of Schaller gathered at Fort Hood, Texas, to bid farewell to John Alafa on his first Iowa National Guard deployment to Afghanistan....

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1,000 furloughed National Guard employees recalled to work

More than 1,000 full-time federal technicians with the Iowa National Guard have been recalled to work after being furloughed Oct. 1 during the federal government shutdown. The change was the result of...

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1,000 workers ordered back to work for Iowa Guard despite shutdown

More than 1,000 employees of the Iowa National Guard can return to work under a measure passed by Congress earlier this month, guard officials announced Monday. The employees were furloughed Oct. 1 due...

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Slain soldier’s mom picketed by Westboro Baptist Church: I’m happy Phelps is...

Patty Sourivong offered a blunt reaction today to the death of Fred Phelps, whose outrageous Kansas church members picketed her son’s funeral in Iowa City. “Am I happy that he’s gone? Yeah, I’m happy...

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