After seven years and three military tours -- two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan -- Sgt. Dan VanDenBerg can spend this Veterans Day at home with his family.

VanDenBerg, who arrived to his family in Hewitt Tuesday, had just returned from Iraq in October.

"It feels good to be home," said VanDenBerg, 25. "I know that part of the job is done and now that I'm back home, I can focus on me and my family."

VanDenBerg was scheduled to come off active duty in September 2008. He and his wife, Joanna, had recently moved from New York to Wisconsin when he received a stop-loss order and had to return to Iraq.

"This was a little different," said Joanna, 25. "For the last deployment I was on base in New York, but after moving here there was less communication. They still have someone check in with you every once in a while, especially when it got closer to him coming home."

VanDenBerg had been assigned to the aviation support unit in Fort Drum, New York.

In Iraq, he and his unit would work in 12-hour shifts performing 24-hour maintenance on helicopters and other aircraft, VanDenBerg said.

"Iraq is everything you think it is," VanDenBerg said. "It's extremely dusty and at least once a week we had a sand storm roll through. The running joke was you could seal a Ziplock bag and after a storm you'd have to dump all the sand out of it."

Joanna said overseas communication has improved.

During his first deployment, before their marriage, there was no Internet and mail was "excruciatingly" slow, Joanna said.

"Two weeks for a letter," Joanna said. "But once he went to Afghanistan there was a lot better communication. The Internet was up and you could use the Skype program."

VanDenBerg will now complete his Army reserve time and is preparing an application to attend Mid-State Technical College and study renewable electricity, he said.

"It's wonderful having my husband home," Joanna said. "It's nice to be giggly all over again."