About 110 soldiers with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will return to Fort Lewis Saturday and will be welcomed home by family and friends at a 7 a.m. ceremony at Sheridan Gym, according to a post press release.

The first-arriving soldiers make up the Stryker Brigade's advance party, a select team from each of the unit's battalions and companies who redeploy ahead of the rest to make preparations. The majority of 4th Brigade's roughly 4,000 soldiers are scheduled to begin arriving home in June.

The brigade departed Fort Lewis in April 2007 and has seen heavy action primarily in Baghdad and in Diyala Province, north of the capital.

When the full brigade returns, the troop population at Fort Lewis will crest 30,000 and reach a modern-day peak.