Commander: Bragg troops may be home mid-December

That's according to Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Dowd, a commander overseeing the withdrawal of supplies and equipment from Iraq, tells The Fayetteville Observer (http://bit.ly/t3usTe) that work could be done by mid-December. That's well ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline and means some troops could be home in time for Christmas.

Dowd says some 9,000 truckloads of equipment have been moved into Kuwait since October. Fewer than 1,000 truckloads have yet to be moved. Once it's all moved, Dowd says his troops will have to sort, clean and ship the equipment.

The troop withdrawal comes in the wake of President Barack Obama's declaration that the Iraq war is over and a deal struck by President George W. Bush to withdraw all troops by 2012.

More than 4,400 American military members have been killed since the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in March 2003.

One hundred eight soldiers originally from North Carolina, not including those stationed in the state, died in Iraq.

Camp Lejeune lost 295 soldiers and Fort Bragg 196, including special forces. The North Carolina National Guard lost 14 soldiers and the Marine Air Station at Cherry Point had eight causalities. Pope and Seymour Johnson Air Force Bases had a combined four deaths in Iraq.

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Information from: The Fayetteville Observer