Major Gen. Gary J. Volesky, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell, delivers remarks during a welcome home ceremony moments after returning to Fort Campbell Saturday. Volesky and 125 Soldiers of the division headquarters ...
Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Nowak (left), senior enlisted adviser of the 101st Airborne Division, and Maj. Gen. Gary J. Volesky, commanding general of the 101st and Fort Campbell, uncase the division's colors before marching into a welcome home ceremon...
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- Fort Campbell's welcome home, Saturday, reunited Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 101st Airborne Division Soldiers with their Families after a five-month deployment.
Led by Division Commander Maj. Gen. Gary J. Volesky, the 101st Airborne Division deployed to Liberia to head Joint Force Command -- United Assistance. Once there, the Screaming Eagles worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development to stem the Ebola crisis. The non-combat, humanitarian mission was unlike any the 101st Airborne Division had seen in many years. However, it is one the Soldiers embraced and completed successfully, Volesky said, after uncasing the division's colors at Campbell Army Airfield's Hangar 3.
"When we arrived, there were over 50 confirmed cases a day," he said. "The results speak for themselves. Liberia has only had one positive case of Ebola in the last 30 days in the entire country, and a mission that was expected to last 18 months was completed in five."
Some 162 Soldiers returned with the headquarters, Saturday, followed by more troops from 86th Combat Support Hospital and 101st Sustainment Brigade, Sunday and Monday. These Soldiers provided logistics and support as the Screaming Eagles coordinated the overarching response to Ebola.
The 101st Airborne accomplished the mission from the ground up, which made for a much different scenario from the established military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even services most take for granted, such as mail, took a few weeks to set up in Liberia. However, some 2,600 JFC-UA personnel helped accomplish the mission that included everything from constructing multiple Ebola Treatment Units to conducting health care worker training.
"… We had to go in, bring all our own equipment in, build all our own bases, accomplish the mission, then send all our equipment home and tear down all those bases," Volesky said. "So it was more than just the mission, clearly getting after the Ebola piece and seeing the people of Liberia really return to normal."
The HHB Soldiers completed a 21-day controlled monitoring period at Fort Bliss, Texas, prior to redeploying to Fort Campbell. While the 101st Airborne departed the country in February, a small number of troops remain in West Africa as the Liberian government and other agencies monitor future Ebola cases.
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