About 2,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers — just back from Iraq — stood in formation today as the 25th Infantry Division unfurled its battle flag from the yearlong deployment.

The formation represented 4,500 soldiers in total from the 3rd “Bronco” brigade and division headquarters who returned to Hawaiçi in October and November from northern Iraq.
Maj. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr., the 25th Division commander, was in charge of 23,000 U.S. troops in the Ohio-sized region of Iraq. He said a total of 51 soldiers were killed and 250 were injured in combat among the troops under his command, including units based outside of Hawaiçi.
The command paid special respect to the soldiers who were killed or wounded on the deployment, including Spc. Brendan Marrocco, 23, who lost parts of both arms and both legs when a buried roadside bomb hit his vehicle on April 12.
Marrocco, in a blue wheelchair, was front and center in his camouflage uniform at the redeployment ceremony. Another Schofield soldier, Spc. Michael J. Anaya, also 23, was killed in the same blast in Bayji, northwest of Baghdad.
The 3rd Brigade of about 3,500 soldiers from Schofield operated in Salah ad Din province and completed 60 school renovations, seven new schools, 52 water projects providing new wells and water treatment facilities and 11 electrical renovations.