"Bring the boys home," said Maldonado.

Home is exactly where his son Jordon is heading next month.

"Oh, I feel great, you know having him come home and at least be in the United States, where he's relatively safe," the father said.

Soon more parents and family members will be able to share in that great feeling when they see their sons and daughters coming home from Iraq.

At Camp LeJeune Friday, President Obama announced that he will withdraw combat troops from Iraq in the next year and a half.

"So I want to be very clear,” said Obama. “We sent our troops to Iraq to do away with Saddam Hussein's regime - and you got the job done. We kept our troops in Iraq to help establish a sovereign government - and you got the job done.”

The move would mean about 100,000 troops would be coming home. Among that number could be the 200 to 300 soldiers from Fort Bliss serving in Iraq right now.

About 35,000 to 50,000 troops will stay in Iraq after the withdrawal to train Iraqi forces and to perform counter-terrorism work.

Some Democrats, like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nev.), criticize the idea of keeping up to 50,000 troops there for those reasons.

Republicans like Sen. John McCain support the idea of bringing troops home.

While Maldonado also agrees with the idea, he believes keeping a presence in Iraq is important.

"I think if we were to just leave all together, there'd be a civil war. There’d be chaos," he said.

More than 140,000 American servicemen and women are serving in Iraq right now.