WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii (Nov. 2, 2009) - Families, friends and loved ones welcomed home more than 250 Soldiers from the 84th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, during a redeployment ceremony, Nov. 2, here.
"It was great to see my family again," said Capt. Chatom Warren, 84th Bn. "I felt like a got bum-rushed by all of them. I can't wait to get out of this uniform, reconnect with my family and have some food at Chili's!"
The Soldiers returned from a 12-month deployment to the northern city of Mosul and was the construction battalion that provided general engineering support while in Iraq, to include route clearance, road repair, and Forward Operating Base improvement.
"I felt we left a lasting impression within Iraq," Warren said. "We provided a lot of engineer support to build up the infrastructure for years to come [in our area]."
The Pine Bluff, Ark., native was one of many responsible for construction for Combat Outpost Irbil, outside the city of Ibril, Iraq earlier this year. The Engineers built more than 8 miles of dirt berm around the outpost, helped place consolidated housing units on gravel pads, and ensuring the buildings on the combat outpost had sufficient plumbing and electricity.
In addition to the time away, many Soldiers also left spouses to take care of the business back home while they were downrange.
"We made it through the entire year, and we thank God for all his blessings to help us get through this deployment," said Marquaita Warrens. "Overall, my husband and I motivated each other one month at a time to get through this - I'm happy to have him home!"
The Engineer Soldiers also trained the Iraqi Security Forces on engineering tasks, including robotic technologies to defeat improvised explosive devices. This was the Battalion's third 12-month deployment to Iraq in the last six years. The 84th Engineer Battalion was accompanied by 108 Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division Special Troops Battalion, who returned home from a year in Iraq as well.
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