Jeff Riggs, a captain in the Mississippi HHC 168th Engineer Group and the under sheriff for Warren County, shines a big grin as he arrives at the Readiness Center in Flowers this morning.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[4/7/04]Two-year-old Aubrie Grace Tolbert waved an American flag while she waited today for her father, Capt. Gary Tolbert, to return home after a 14-month military tour.

Aubrie and her mother, Kim Tolbert, were among about 600 family members, friends, elementary students and other well-wishers at the Vicksburg Readiness Center near Flowers as members of the Mississippi HHC 168th Engineer Group rode up on buses.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” said Capt. Tolbert, 36, a Vicksburg native and Warren Central High School graduate who now lives in Clinton. “There are no words that can explain it.” Aubrie turned 2 on Dec. 13, the day Saddam Hussein was dragged from a “spider hole” in the nation he had once ruled as president and dictator.

Today was Tolbert’s second time to see his daughter since he was called up in February 2003 along with about 66 other members of the 168th.

He had been home for two weeks in December and saw his daughter walk for the first time during that visit.

“We endured a lot over there as a team, and it’s just good to see some familiar faces,” Tolbert said.

After a brief ceremony at the Readiness Center that included speeches from Mayor Laurence Leyens, Warren County Board of Supervisors President Charles Selmon and former Gov. Kirk Fordice, the group was dismissed to be with their families.

Based in Vicksburg, the 168th arrived in Kuwait last April in support of operations there and in Iraq. The unit arrived in Fort Stewart, Ga., for debriefing and stand-down operations last week.

During their 11 months in Iraq, the engineering group completed 1,500 projects and supported every U.S. division there, including the U.S. Army 5th Corps, the lead combat element.

The 168th’s mission was to manage construction in Iraq, and the group completed several military tasks as well as civilian works, including rebuilding five schools, converting a former Ba’ath party headquarters into a medical clinic and building soccer fields.

About half the group’s members are from Warren County and the surrounding area, and half are from other parts of the state.

About eight members of the 168th remained behind in Iraq and are expected to come home in about two weeks.

The Clinton-based 114th Military Police Company of the Mississippi Army National Guard returned Jan. 12 after a two-year deployment while about 25 soldiers remain deployed with the other Vicksburg-based Army Reserve unit, the 386th Transportation Company.

Members of the 412th Engineer Command of the U.S. Army Reserve returned in August.

Military and civilian personnel from other local units including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also continuing to trickle home.

Charles Barton, real estate chief for the Mississippi Valley Division, is coming home Thursday.

In total, 273 reserve and National Guard members were called up from four local units including about 70 from Vicksburg.