CAMP DOUGLAS, WIS. -- Minnesota National Guard soldiers Christina Brinig and Cara Blazei marched off a chartered DC-10 Tuesday, turned in their M-16 rifles and started rolling around in a grassy patch next to the Volk Field airstrip in central Wisconsin.

"I won't miss Iraq, but I'll miss these people," said Blazei, 21, a maintenance specialist from Minneapolis. "Everyone here is like family."

After 22 months, including 16 months in Iraq, Brinig, Blazei and about 200 other National Guard troops were back on Midwestern soil as the first major wave of 2,600 Red Bull Brigade soldiers from Minnesota began returning home.

Two more jets filled with soldiers touched down Tuesday night at the Wisconsin military base 180 miles east of the Twin Cities.

The troops will spend about a week at nearby Fort McCoy, undergoing medical exams, psychological counseling and other military processing before reuniting with their families.

It's part of an intensified effort called "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon," which includes steps to smooth the troops' reintegration to civilian life.

In Minnesota, there have been three high-profile deaths involving troops returning from Iraq, the most recent on June 30 when Staff Sgt. Adam Sheda of Cloquet was shot to death during an altercation at a party in Duluth.

Handling combat stress will be the subject of classes this week, as well as 30, 60 and 90 days down the road. Soldiers will receive wallet cards with mental health tips and other suggestions.

"My only advice is to go slow," Maj. Gen. Rick Erlandson told troops at the Volk Field hangar. "You have changed and your families have changed in the last 22 months while you were going at a tremendous operational tempo.

"Get help, slow down and make that effort."

No reunions -- yet

For the next week at Fort McCoy, the returning troops won't be allowed to leave the base, see family members, drink alcohol of wear civilian clothes.

Instead, they'll attend classes that explore how to slow down after nearly two years at an adrenaline-jacked pace and learn other ins and outs of readjusting to civilian life.

They'll also handle the more mundane paperwork issues related to benefits and military records.

"A week's a week -- compared to everything we've been through, it's nothing," said Anthony Ghylin, 21, of Blaine, who trimmed trees in Plymouth before being deployed.

"It feels good to be back on green grass instead of sand and rock," said Robert Lewis, 37, of Fridley, who called his wife and three kids when the plane refueled in Maine.

"There was a sense of happiness on the phone line knowing I'm OK, but it's tough for them knowing I'm here but still next door for another week."

Extension 'devastating'