Miles greets guardsmen upon return

• Advocate news services
• Published: Jul 16, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LSU football coach Les Miles and his youngest son Ben joined hundreds of family members and friends who welcomed back 175 soldiers of the Louisiana National Guard’s 769th Engineer Battalion on Monday night at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.

The battalion returned to Baton Rouge after a year-long tour of duty in Iraq.

“I wanted to be there to personally say ‘thank you’ for what they are doing for our country,” Miles said.

“These young men and women are heroes and being there to welcome them home is a small way to show how much we appreciate them and their efforts.”

Also in attendance at Monday’s arrival were Governor Bobby Jindal and Mayor-President Kip Holden.

“A couple weeks ago I was e-mailed a picture of members of this battalion in Iraq showing off their LSU flags and banners and I said at that time that ‘I’ve got to meet these guys’,” Miles said.

“It was truly a special moment to see the troops get off that plane and be greeted by family and friends who they haven’t seen in a year.

Time for SLU game changed

HAMMOND — Southeastern Louisiana’s scheduled football opener at Alcorn State, set for Aug. 30 in Lorman, Miss., has been pushed back to a 5 p.m. kickoff.

The game, which will mark the fourth meeting between the schools and Southeastern’s first game, was originally scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

Vandy to feature variety

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt football players will wear nine uniform variations this season with black, gold and white options for both jerseys and pants.