FORT STEWART, Ga. </B>- Dusk settled in over the Truscott Air Terminal as Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Mountain Division returned to Hunter Army Airfield after a 12-month deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Oct. 11.
Family Members, friends and fellow Soldiers filled Tominac Fitness Center to welcome home the 158 warriors.
"Our mission in Iraq was to provide attack, security and reconnaissance in northern Iraq," said Lt. Col. Mike Slocum, battalion commander, 1/10 Avn. Reg. "The most significant accomplishment we made was to bring all of our 559 Soldiers and civilians back with us."
Lieutenant Colonel. Slocum, who returned from his seventh deployment, said his Family has a redeployment tradition.
"Our Family usually goes out for pizza," he said. "You really can't get good pizza when you are down range. We are going out for pizza tonight."
The tasks of an attack unit are to conduct deliberate and hasty attacks, air combat operations and rear security operations. While being agile and lethal enough to provide close air support for ground forces, battalions are designed to strike deep behind enemy lines to destroy large masses of enemy armor and other strategic targets. The primary aircraft used for the attack mission is the AH-64D Apache Longbow.
Over the next few months, the battalion will reset and prepare for the move to Fort Drum, N.Y., in 2010.
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