Carrie Riley’s 7-year-old and 5-year-old daughters made a “paper Daddy” to talk and interact with while their real father served with the Maryland National Guard in Iraq.

The “paper Daddy” lost an eye and ear during Lt. Col. Samuel Riley’s yearlong absence.

Fortunately for the girls, their real daddy came home safe and alive — as did his 128 fellow Maryland Guardsmen.

“We kept busy, and thankfully we had e-mails and pictures to remind us of him and keep him in our hearts,” Carrie Riley said.

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The Maryland Guardsmen of the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team were honored Sunday at Towson University for their work in Iraq, where they handled the operations of Victory Base, a major international command center in Baghdad.

The guardsmen returned in April, and Sunday marked the completion of their 90-day reintegration process.

During that process, guardsmen do not have to train, but are required to attend counseling sessions on the 30th, 60th and 90th days to help them physically, psychologically and emotionally handle returning to civilian life.

For Maj. William Bickel, of Towson, coming home meant having to learn how to care for his son, who was born a month before his deployment, as well as learn that driving through Towson is far safer than the roads of Baghdad.

“It was tough realizing I could drive over 30 miles per hour and not have to be constantly aware of my surroundings,” Bickel said.

The brigade was the largest deployment of Maryland Guardsmen since World War II, and some units are still overseas.

Though most of the brigade never saw combat, attacks were made against the base, and some fellow soldiers — including a mother who was three hours from ending her deployment — died during the attacks.

“When we arrived in June 2007, Baghdad was lawless and brutal. ... Our mission was to support the soldiers of the surge, an operation which has improved security for all of Iraq,” said Col. Sean Casey, commander of the brigade.

During the ceremony, the guardsmen received an encased U.S. flag, medal, pin for themselves and their spouses, and replica of the National Guard’s NASCAR racing car for their children.

State and federal elected officials attended the ceremony, thanking the guardsmen — and each other — for delivering legislation in Annapolis and D.C. aimed at helping veterans and guardsmen.

“The families and warriors [of the Maryland Guard] are the guardians of freedom for all Americans,” said Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, a colonel in the Army Reserves who served a 10-month tour in Iraq.

jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com