Sgt. Susie Hubbard laughs as she recalls events during her duties in Iraq with the Mississippi HHC 168th Engineering Group. Her 6-year-old daughter, LaShunte, sets up a board game for a long-awaited competition with her mother.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[4/8/04]What’s the first meal a Mississippi soldier home from Iraq craves?

Mama’s catfish, of course.

Sgt. Susie Hubbard, 29, enjoyed her first homecooked food in 14 months Wednesday after the Mississippi HHC 168th Engineer Group returned to Vicksburg. Hubbard serves fulltime as a unit clerk and chaplain assistant and was among the last wave of Mississippi soldiers returning home.

She said she got to enjoy a lot of things for the first time in nearly a year, including a long, hot bath; sitting on her mother’s new furniture and playing board games with her two children.

“I missed just being home,” she said. “Being able to wake up in the morning and see my kids and being able to kiss them good night.”

The 168th was called up for 14 months and served 11 of them in Iraq providing engineering support to combat units and for civil works.

Hubbard’s two children, C.J., 8, and LaShunte, 6, were just as excited to see their mother for the first time since a two-week leave in December. The Bowmar Elementary School students didn’t leave their mother’s side except to get a soccer ball and set up a board game.

“I want her to play Scrabble with me,” C.J. said. “When she came back last time she said she was going to play Scrabble with me, but she didn’t.”

After the unit’s arrival in Fort Stewart, Ga., last week, Hubbard got a pedicure and manicure and bought some makeup Tuesday before coming home.

“All the guys were making fun of me,” Hubbard said. “But, I’m going to be a girl for a few days instead of a soldier woman.”

The reservists were stationed near Balad, Iraq, for nearly a year, and were released in a brief ceremony at the new Readiness Center at Flowers about 10:30 Wednesday morning. They completed 1,500 engineering projects in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, including converting a former Ba’ath party headquarters into a medical clinic, building soccer fields and rebuilding schools.

Hubbard said the thing she will remember most about her time there is the residents.

“I thought it was going to be harder working with the Iraqi people, but they were really nice,” Hubbard said. “They were eager to learn, and really eager to teach us about themselves.”

She said the funniest part about working with the Iraqi people is the number of men who wanted to marry an American woman to be able to come to the United States.

“But my kids said they don’t need a new daddy,” Hubbard said.

About 600 family members and well-wishers cheered as buses unloaded at Flowers. About half the group’s members are from Warren County and the surrounding area, and half are from other parts of the state.

About eight members of the 168th remained behind in Iraq and are expected to come home in about two weeks.

The Clinton-based 114th Military Police Company of the Mississippi Army National Guard returned Jan. 12 after a two-year deployment while about 25 soldiers remain deployed with the other Vicksburg-based Army Reserve unit, the 386th Transportation Company.

Members of the 412th Engineer Command of the U.S. Army Reserve returned in August.

Military and civilian personnel from other local units including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also continuing to trickle home.

In total, 273 reserve and National Guard members were called up from four local units including about 70 from Vicksburg.