The Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery Regiment, “Mission-Ready Battalion,” 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., touched down in the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport on April 3, 2020, after being deployed to the Korean Peninsula for the past nine months.
The Mission-Ready Battalion conducted a transfer of authority ceremony on March 31 with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, their replacement in the Republic of Korea.
During the past nine months, Soldiers of the Mission-Ready Battalion remained ready and postured to deter aggression and maintain peace in the Korean Peninsula while wielding the Army's all-weather, surface-to-surface destruction weapon, the M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System, which has a range of between 30 and 300 kilometers.
While deployed, the Mission-Ready Battalion conducted their Artillery Table VI, fired over 400 fire missions and participated in two separate Thunder Readiness Validation Exercises.
“We are glad to have our mission-ready Soldiers back home,” said Lt. Col. James Raines, 2-18th FAR commander. “Congratulations on a job well done in the Republic of Korea by completing our mission and getting back home. It’s unfortunate that our families could not be a part of our redeployment process, but in order to exercise safe social distancing and allow for our Soldiers and families to remain as safe as possible, it’s necessary. We’re exceptionally happy to have our Soldiers and families back together again.”
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Soldiers of the Mission-Ready Battalion went through an intense medical screening, checking for flu-like symptoms and fever prior to redeploying home.
Once back on U.S. soil, Soldiers were once again screened for flu-like symptoms and fever before boarding buses that transported them from their aircraft to a hangar where a third and final screening took place.
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