By The Associated Press

About 1,700 Hawaii National Guard soldiers are preparing to come home this summer from their Middle East deployment.

The 29th Brigade Combat Team is expected home in August. Officials haven’t said when the unit will leave their Kuwait base.

The soldiers were sent to Kuwait for nine months to provide security for U.S. installations there. They also drove into Iraq while protecting convoys.

The soldiers left Hawaii last August for Fort Hood, Texas where they spent a few months training.

They arrived in Kuwait in the fall.

The 29th Brigade’s latest deployment came just two years after the unit returned from Iraq.

The Pentagon had announced a goal of allowing Guard units to spend at least five years at home between deployments. But troop needs in Iraq and Afghanistan forced the military to send Hawaii’s citizen soldiers back to the Middle East earlier.

The 29th Brigade will have a brief layover in Fort Hood before returning to the islands.

Joan Yamamoto, the National Guard’s family program assistant, says the Hawaii Army National Guard is holding briefings over the next few weeks on all islands to let families know about the layover.

When the brigade left Iraq in 2006, the citizen soldiers flew directly to Hawaii and were released from active duty here.

Yamamoto said the change may be hard for many families, especially children. “They have certain expectations,” Yamamoto added, “since they have been through it before.”

The Guard plans to hold its major welcome home ceremonies about a month after the soldiers’ return to give families and soldiers time to get reacquainted.

During this deployment, the Guard strengthened its efforts to help families cope with the absence of their fathers, mothers, husbands and wives.

Soldiers were offered marriage “enrichment” counseling and weekend retreats before they left. They were also offered counseling during the deployment.