One of the first North Dakota National Guard units to head to Iraq is now heading home.

The 142nd Engineer Combat Battalion has left Iraq for Kuwait, Guard spokesman Rob Keller said Tuesday. From Kuwait, it will head for Fort Carson, Colo., for processing before returning to North Dakota.

Guard officials have said the members of the 630-member unit likely will not return home as a unit, but in groups as transportation becomes available. Keller said soldiers may arrive in Fort Carson as soon as the weekend.

The Fargo-based 142nd left for Iraq more than a year ago. Guard officials say its members were spread throughout that country and performed more than 1,500 missions, including such jobs as repairing schools, recovering Iraqi jets and running convoy operations.

Most of the unit's equipment has been cleaned, packed and stored for the trip home, the Guard said. Keller has talked about the return as the "light at the end of the tunnel," and he said it keeps getting brighter.

The Bismarck-based 957th Multi-Role Bridge Company also is expected to return home in the next couple of months. It has about 175 members.

While Guard officials were giving an update on the 142nd, they also announced that a 150-member Grand Forks air defense unit, the F Battery of the 188th Air Defense Artillery, has been placed on alert for possible duty in Iraq late this year or early next year.

About 475 members of the 141st Engineer Battalion, with units in Bismarck, Dickinson, Hettinger, Jamestown, Mott, Valley City and Williston, left last month for duty in Iraq.

Currently, 1,531 of members of the North Dakota National Guard, or 35.7 percent, are on active duty in support of the operation in Iraq, the Guard said.

Historical records from the North Dakota Guard show Iraq is the third largest among nine federal mobilizations in its 114-year history.