MUSCATINE, Iowa — Though his childhood dream came true in a war-torn nation on the other side of the world, Drew Lake is glad to be back home where that dream began.

Lake, who was born and raised in Muscatine, returned home Wednesday after serving in Iraq for 11 months with the Iowa National Guard.

And while he says he won’t miss that uneasy feeling of watching his back from the unknown in a  foreign land, he said he’s still happy to have had the experience.

“When I first got there they were talking about turning everything over to the Iraqis and when we were getting ready to leave they were pretty much taking care of things themselves,” Said Lake, 20, who was deployed to Iraq in November 2008. “You could tell their army and their police and the Sons of Iraq (civilian security) were doing what they were supposed to do.”

Lake said he joined the Guard to make a difference in the lives in war-stricken countries while representing America and standing up for his country’s freedom.

Lake, the son of Stephanie Ruefer and Ralph Lake of Muscatine, was greeted by his family Wednesday in Iowa City when the Iowa Army National Guard’s 1133rd Transportation Co. returned from duty. His unit spent 11 months hauling equipment between its station at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, north to more volatile areas in Iraq.

Lake drove his Harley Davidson motorcycle from Iowa City to Muscatine on Wednesday — just one of the luxuries of being home.

For the past year, the soldier put more than 11,000 miles on a large equipment hauler that reached a top speed of 45 mph. His missions were non-stop stretches across the sandy dessert and each lasted for a week or more.

“My main job was pulling the Marines out and hauling their

equipment back to the ports. They had finished their mission supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Lake said Thursday.

Experiences

Lake went in as a private first class and earned the rank of specialist in charge of the Third Country Nationals who were part of the 40-truck convoys for each equipment-hauling mission.

He said the tour of duty was not what he expected.

“When all my buddies went over in 2003 and 2004, the stories they told us were bad,” Lake said. “We were expecting the worst, but it really wasn’t as violent as I thought it was going to be.”

He added that his military brothers and sisters fighting in Afghanistan right now have it a lot worse than he did because of the level of violence there.

“It may be time to get everyone out of there,” he said.

Keeping in touch

Lake kept in touch with his family and his fiancee, Lacey McFadden, who he proposed to at his sendoff party last year. They communicated by telephone and online video.

“It was very hard. I missed him so much,” said McFadden, who had picked out the couple’s new home with Lake’s mother while he was still in Iraq. Lake saw the new house Wednesday night when he arrived in Muscatine. He and McFadden plan to marry in August 2010.

Lake’s dad said he was glad to greet his son with a hug Wednesday afternoon and that Drew has changed a lot over the past year.

“We were worried about him the whole time because the trucks they were driving are targets. We are very happy he is home and happy with the way things turned out,” Ralph Lake said.

Lake plans to attend the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy at Camp Dodge.

Until then he’s going to spend some time remodeling his new home and hunting with his dad.

He doesn’t expect to be deployed again for about two years.

“I am proud to have served my country,” Lake said.

He said he isn’t an emotional guy but that the experience changed him a little bit.

“I didn’t think it was going to bother me to be gone, but every time I talked to them on the phone it got harder,” he added.