By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The soldiers of Charlie Company are finally headed home.

On Friday morning, the roughly 150 western Maine troops, part of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, are scheduled to board buses in Fort Drum, N.Y., and head east to waiting family and friends.

They’ll join three waves of returning troops from the Maine Army National Guard, totaling more than 500 soldiers, all of whom spent the past year in Iraq.

The first buses will arrive late Wednesday and include troops from Belfast and Westbrook, members of Alpha and Bravo companies.

Charlie Company, which includes soldiers from the Lewiston and Norway armories, will arrive Friday, either in late afternoon or early evening.

With each stop, the homecomings are likely to be brief, said Maj. Peter Rogers, spokesman for the Maine guard.

“We want to get the soldiers released and with their families as soon as possible,” Rogers said.

At the Lewiston High School gymnasium, where Charlie Company will arrive, the entire ceremony could last five minutes or less.

The soldiers will get off their buses, line up in formation, salute and get their dismissals. There will be no speeches and no songs. Leaders are planning to gather the entire battalion in 90 days for the National Guard’s traditional Freedom Salute, including invited dignitaries, marching bands and other tributes to their service.

“It’s going to be awesome,” said Tammy Begin-LeBlanc of her planned reunion with her husband, Staff Sgt. Andre LeBlanc.

Welcoming friends and family are expected to fill the gym, which was chosen as the dismissal site when organizers realized that their armory would be too small.

When the soldiers’ buses arrive, local groups expect to dress road signs and people’s yards with welcome messages.

The anticipation has been building for weeks. Begin-LeBlanc has been part of the process, helping to sell about 200 banners, each welcoming the 133rd. The red-and-yellow signs were purchased from as far away as Fort Fairfield in northern Maine and the small town of Lee in upstate New York, not far from the Army post where the soldiers landed last week, still carrying the Iraqi dust in their clothes.

The battalion’s soldiers began arriving at Fort Drum last Wednesday. It was their first stop in America, enough to make them happy but not quite home.

In the moments after they landed, they talked about family in Maine.

They also talked of eating hot dogs at Simones’ in Lewiston and steaks at Mac’s Grill in Auburn.

Begin-LeBlanc’s husband has no such cravings, “not even Doritos,” she said.

When he returns, the couple plan to go away together for a couple of days. Or maybe they’ll just stay in, whatever he wants.

For the past year, Tammy and Andre have learned to live apart. Now, they’ll learn again to be together, she said.

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