""It's just when you think you have a little more time, even two days, you know, it's a little bit more time with them," she said.

While the deployment in Iraq will be the first for some, Staff Sgt. Doug Lange of Green Bay is making his third trip there. He went to Iraq during Desert Storm. Formerly a member of the 353rd Transportation Company in Buffalo, Minn., he returned from a second deployment Dec. 19. As he prepared to go to Iraq again, Lange recalled lighter moments there, even in the midst of heat and insurgents.

"You go nine months without seeing a rain cloud and then it starts raining and then you go and make mud angels," he said.

"As insignificant as it may sound, that was one of my highlights, to actually see rain clouds," he added.

Most comforting for soldiers is to know their family supports them, Lange said. "That's the best support a soldier can have, is get plenty of mail," he added.

The Green Bay News-Chronicle Online - local news