About 250 soldiers from the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division are returning to Fort Lewis from a 15-month deployment in Iraq.

The Army says the soldiers in Thursday’s homecoming are the first of the “main body” flights as 4,000 soldiers return to the base. An advance party of about 110 returned on May 3.  The remaining soldiers from the brigade will return over the next three weeks.

A Fort Lewis spokeswoman says 37 soldiers from the 4-2 Stryker brigade were lost in Iraq or from Iraq injuries.