Soldiers return home from deployment to Afghanistan during holiday season

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- About 180 10th Mountain Division Soldiers received a warm welcome home during two ceremonies at Fort Drum over the holidays as their deployment to Afghanistan came to an end. The Soldiers returned to friends and Families only hours after they landed at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield during ceremonies Dec. 23 and Jan. 4 at Monti Physical Fitness Gym.

As the returning heroes walked off of the airplanes that brought them home, Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, Fort Drum and 10th Mountain Division (LI) commander, and other leaders welcomed each and every Soldier back home.

"It's good to have all these Soldiers home after they did such a great job while deployed," Townsend said.

During the ceremonies, the 10th Mountain Division commander asked each friend and Family Member in attendance to shake the Soldiers' hands and thank them for their service.

Townsend reminded Soldiers to keep their spirits high, and even if they didn't have Family Members at the event, they would be given an opportunity to take leave and visit with friends and Family outside the area.

Soldiers of 110th Transportation Company, 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, arrived back home at Fort Drum in time for Christmas with their Families. The welcome home ceremony was held at 4 a.m. with friends and Families, who in some cases had traveled across the country to see their Soldiers returning home.

"This is what I have been waiting for," said Sgt. Nathan Harris, a Soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 548th CSSB. "This is the best feeling in the world."

Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, returned home to waiting friends and Family Members on Friday.

The HHC's mission entailed overseeing daily convoy operations, tracking more than 200 long-haul sustainment combat logistics patrols that measured over 27,500,000 miles while providing sustainment stocks to an area over 47,000 square miles.

"I'm pretty happy to be home and see my Family," said Sgt. 1st Class Arthur Taylor, a Soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. "It will be a long few days catching up with all that has happened with my Family while I've been gone."

Soldiers from the returning units will be checked for their medical, dental and financial readiness among other things while being reintegrated with Fort Drum. The process will take approximately two weeks before the Soldiers depart on leave.