Topeka ? She saw gunfire, served turkey and spoke with hundreds of soldiers, from privates to generals.

But the first thing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that she had to do after returning from a visit to Kansas National Guard troops in the Middle East was to start calling families to convey handwritten messages that had been pressed into her hands.

“These notes are pretty incredible because what most people said over and over again was, ‘Tell them I’m OK, tell them I’ll be home, tell them I love them, tell them I miss them,'” Sebelius said.

Sebelius was one of four governors who were whisked away by the Defense Department to the Middle East for the Thanksgiving holidays. It was the first tour by governors of the war area in more than two years, and they visited Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Pakistan and Qatar over six days, returning late Monday.

Sebelius said the Guard units were performing a wide range of missions, from disarming deadly IEDs in Baghdad to flying supplies into the mountains of earthquake-ravaged Pakistan.

Sleep-deprived, Sebelius said she thought she was hallucinating when she saw a Jayhawk flag. When she looked at it, a soldier said, “Rock Chalk, ma’am.”

Sebelius also said she saw Lt. Col. Lee Tafanelli, a former state legislator from Ozawkie. He now commands the Kansas-based 891st Engineer Battalion and is scheduled to return home from Iraq in several weeks.

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She said the troops were upbeat, dedicated to their missions and confident that their work was important.

She said the current debate over how to handle the war in Iraq was “appropriate.” But, she said, her job as commander-in-chief of the Kansas National Guard was to show her support on behalf of the state.

“They’re doing their job,” she said of the soldiers. “While the debate goes on, it’s really important that we convey the message that we are fully behind the troops and that was really my role, was to make that very clear,” she said.

Several family members of soldiers in Iraq thanked Sebelius for going to the region.

Jeni Mulqueen of Topeka, the wife of Sgt. Doug Mulqueen with the Kansas National Guard’s 2nd Battalion,137th Infantry in Baghdad, told the governor, “What you have done is very amazing.”

She said her husband “believes very strongly in what he is doing” and that her visit meant a lot to him.

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the adjutant general of Kansas, said there are 2,000 Kansas National Guard troops in the Middle East. He said Sebelius’ decision to go to the area was courageous.

“It takes a lot of bravery to go to the toughest spot on earth,” he said.

Sebelius said one issue she and other governors plan to take up with the federal government is the vast amount of National Guard equipment – such as plows, trucks, planes, and helicopters – that will probably be left in the region because they have been customized for war.

She said states are going to need to replace that equipment for emergencies at home.