Like kids who can't wait for Christmas, folks at Vilseck have put up the welcome home signs early in anticipation of the return of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment from Iraq. (Seth Robson / Stars and Stripes)

VILSECK, Germany — Like kids who can’t wait for Christmas, families here have put up the decorations in anticipation the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment’s return.

Stryker soldiers have been in Iraq since August 2007 and are expected home in November. But this week, on-post streets in Vilseck are lined with U.S. flags and yellow ribbons. Fences near the main gate are plastered with signs welcoming home individual soldiers or sub-units within the regiment. One features the silhouette of a soldier mowing a lawn from a wife looking forward to some help with the yardwork.

Off-post businesses are also looking forward to the soldiers’ homecoming.

Simone Bauernfeind, who works at a coffee shop in Vilseck’s main square, said she sees Americans every day and will welcome the extra business that returning troops will bring.

Rita Leitl, who owns a butcher shop in town, said many of her customers are Stryker wives. But when asked about the return of their husbands, she said: "Trouble."

But one of Leitl’s customers, retired tank mechanic Adam Goebbuer, told her not to worry and added that all the businessmen in town will be happy to have the Strykers back.

"They bring a lot of money into the city. They go to guest houses and rent homes off post," he said.

A few incidents of fighting is normal, Goebbuer said.

"I was in the German army," he said. "When you came back from four weeks in the field, in the first week, you drink too much. It’s the same with the Americans."

Vilseck Mayor Hans-Martin Schertl said the town’s curfew, which requires bars to close by 1 a.m. on weeknights and 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings, will stay in place but added that soldiers can stay out until 5 a.m. at Cheers, a disco just outside the town limits.

Cheers is in a building near Vilseck’s Main Gate that used to house the Independence Club. The club was shut down in December 2006 after a series of fights involving soldiers that saw the regiment place it off limits.

Schertl said he hoped there would be no problems this time around.

"I’ve got good contacts with the garrison and MPs who will drive around and make sure there are no problems," he said.

Work is under way to build an underpass allowing people to drive or walk from Rose Barracks into town without crossing the railway tracks, he said.

Schertl also expressed condolences for the Strykers killed in action in Iraq.

He said he hopes the unit stays in Vilseck for a long time and does not have to deploy again in the near future.

A community-wide celebration is planned for Nov. 25.

Like kids who can't wait for Christmas, folks at Vilseck have put up the welcome home signs early in anticipation of the return of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment from Iraq. (Seth Robson / Stars and Stripes)

Soldiers with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, based in Vilseck, Germany, warm themselves by a fire in January during a day of rainy, muddy patrols near Muqdadiyah in Iraq’s Diyala province. In the coming weeks, the unit will end its deployment and return to Germany. (Drew Brown / Stars and Stripes)

Soldiers with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, based in Vilseck, Germany, patrol a village in January near Muqdadiyah in Iraq’s Diyala province. In the coming weeks, the unit will end its deployment and return to Germany. (Drew Brown / Stars and Stripes)