WILTON – It has been hard for Sgt. Karen Corbin to come home from Iraq for a brief visit with her children and then face going back to the war.

Corbin, 36, of Wilton, is a member of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, Company C, Detachment 1 of the Maine Army National Guard.

She said goodbye to her three children two times before when she was called to active duty in November 2003, and then when her unit’s deployment to Iraq was postponed until after the new year.

“It was hard getting used to being back because everything is the same but it’s different,” Corbin said.

She’s been dealing with feelings of being home and knowing she has to go back.

“It’s good to be home, but I dread going back,” she said. “I’d rather be home with my children.”

But she’s making the most of her 15-day leave, spending time with sons Chris Veilleux, 16, and Cory Veilleux, 14, who live with their father in Jay, and with son Carl Bigelow, 10, who is being cared for by Corbin’s sister in Virginia while she is overseas.

Corbin and her children went shopping and bowling in Lewiston on Tuesday.

“Chris and Cory whipped my butt,” she said, “and Carl came close.”

Her children have grown taller, she said, since she’s been away. When she arrived home, Cory gave her the biggest hug ever, she said. Chris said Monday that he was glad to have his mother home.

She’ll kiss her older boys goodbye Friday.

She and Carl will fly to Virginia and she’ll spend time with her family before she kisses Carl goodbye and returns to Iraq on Sept. 9.

It will be her last leave, she said, unless her unit’s tour is extended. She has been in Iraq since late March but doesn’t know if she will be in Iraq more than a year.

Corbin and her unit have been doing some building in Mosul, she said, and will be heading north when she returns to help more with the community.

The heat, which has reached 140 degrees, is not too bad once one gets used to it, Corbin said.

“I just try to deal with it,” she said.

She’s worked the gate at the base to make sure Iraqi soldiers are thoroughly searching civilians who work on base as they walk in, she said. And she’s helped build a hut.

Explosions are not as frequent as they were when she first arrived, she said.

At one point, a mortar shell dropped 200 meters from where she was working, and people kept working.

“I try not to get nervous about it because you know you’re OK because it’s already hit,” Corbin said.

She’s also dealing with tensions within her unit and outside her unit, she said.

“It’s just a job I have to do,” Corbin said. “I never thought it would be this difficult; a lot more stuff has gone on than I expected.”

There are nine women and more than 100 men in her unit, she said. “Some people get along, some people don’t,” Corbin said.

When she goes to say goodbye to her sons again, she knows she’ll struggle.

“I know it’s going to be hard, but I think I will just cover some of that up and not think about it until later,” she said.

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