After nine months in the desert, you can’t blame a soldier for wanting to spend some time in the house.

For members of the Starkville-based Army National Guard Alpha Battery 2-114 Strike Battalion, who began returning to North Mississippi from Mosul, Iraq, last week, spending time with family was first on everyone’s to-do list. Relaxation was a close second.

“I’m looking forward to being at the house, to relax and have no worries and enjoy the comforts of home,” said Sgt. 1st Class Fountain Saylors, 42, of Tupelo, who remained at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg on Monday.

Sgt. 1st Class Danny Browning Jr., 36, of Columbus, planned to “relax, catch up on stuff I missed and get back into a good rhythm.”

“I was looking forward to doing a lot of stuff, like going out and getting barbecue,” recalls 1st Lt. Dustin Guadagno, 26, of Caledonia. “But now I just want to casually go to everyone’s house for 10-20 minutes and come back and be with my family.”

Of course, family was the clear winner. Whether visiting parents and siblings or reconnecting with children, the soldiers from the 114th kept it moving.

Upon returning home, Saylors will watch two of his three sons play ball for Shannon High School. Browning, who also remains at Camp Shelby, will return to his wife and two daughters. Guadagno reconnected with his 1-year-old son Sunday night.

“I left when he was 6-months-old and he was barely crawling. Now he’s running around and saying ‘Dad ... Dad ...,’” said Guadagno.

Staff Sgt. Scotty Carrithers, 34, was back in Starkville with his 15 and 11-year-old daughters Saturday organizing and decorating his new home. Sgt. Wayne Davis, 24, of Caledonia, also spent most of Saturday playing with his 2-year-old and 13-month-old daughters.

Spc. Brent Davidson, 24, of Columbus, spent the last nine months watching his 10-month-old daughter grow up on Skype, a free video-chat Web service. Every couple of days for half-an-hour or so, Davidson would get to a computer and monitor her progress from half-a-world away.

“It was good to be able to see her and watch her grow. I would see her one day and the next day notice her face taking more shape, more defined features. She was growing into a little person,” he said.

Davidson, like Carrithers, had no time to lounge around the house when he returned home because he has no house. He and his wife recently moved to Mobile where he will attend the University of South Alabama to study biology.

He hopes to sign on a house today and possibly squeeze in some deep-sea fishing next week amid the moving.

Most of the soldiers from the 114th will enjoy a month of leave before returning to their regular jobs while others look to get right back to work. But odds are none of them — with the possible exception of Carrithers, a Starkville police officer — will run the risk of getting shot on the job.

Deployment less risky

Although the 2-114th’s mission was significantly less dangerous than that of its 2005 deployment, the troops from North Mississippi were still on hostile ground.

“(At home) you can live life the way you want and not worry about mortars coming in at night,” said Guadagno. “You learn to recognize the sound. It’s a dull thud. Now when people shut or slam doors you think, ‘Was that a mortar?’”

The 2-114th’s primary service in Mosul was providing security to convoys of supply trucks traveling all over the north half of Iraq; a relatively low-risk mission. Convoys were run almost exclusively at night to further reduce the likelihood of encountering aggression.

Stress was more likely to be caused by the fatigue of off-loading trucks at 5 a.m. only to get a few hours of sleep before loading up another convoy.

The 2004-2005 deployment was a different story.

The 2-114th, originally an artillery battery, was put on foot patrols in Hit, Iraq.

“The first employment was real deal,” says Davidson, a six-year National Guard veteran who deployed in 2004. “Kicking in doors at night and actually taking enemy fire.”

A number of factors had improved since the 114th’s 2004 deployment. Iraqi military and police forces took over the bulk of security work in urban areas, taking on the majority of the fighting. And sprawling Forward Operating Bases stocked with modern amenities had been constructed.

But even operating in the dark in 2009 Iraq had its dangers. The convoys, which were lit up “like the moon” during night missions occasionally took small arms fire and ran across Improvised Explosive Devices.

Luckily, the IEDs were easy to spot and the 114th had some nifty new rides.

“In the MRAPS we feel completely safe,” said Guadagno of the mine resistant vehicles, some of which are constructed in West Point. “They protect us from most IEDs, except armor piercing grenades and huge IEDs. But it’s really easy to find IEDs at night with the spotlights.”

The only drawback to the heavily armored trucks is their size. Guadagno says the MRAPS have to be kept on the road, especially after rain, because they’re prone to get stuck in the sand.

But the sand doesn’t always wait for the soldiers to come to it. Sandstorms are akin to being attacked by the landscape.

“It’s like someone holding a hairdryer one inch away from your face and throwing sand at you,” said Guadagno.

Still, many members of the 114th have extended their National Guard contracts, fully aware they may again be asked to leave their families and redeploy to the Middle East.