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Coming home Welcome awaits area soldiers
on Thursday
CAMP RIPLEY - An estimated 160 Minnesota Army National Guard soldiers will be welcomed home Thursday afternoon and area residents are being asked to join in the welcome.
Echo Company, 134th Brigade Support Battalion, includes three soldiers from Baxter and nine from Brainerd, Staff Sgt. David Wright said Tuesday. The soldiers are expected to arrive at Highway 76 and Highway 371 between 12:15 and 12:45 p.m. Thursday, as they begin to drive through the city of Little Falls and then up old Highway 371 to Camp Ripley.
National Guard officials are asking supporters of the troops to hold banners, wave flags and welcome the soldiers home after 22 months of service.
Capt. Timothy Engle, Echo Company commander, said the newly formed Echo Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Divison, arrived at Camp Shelby, Miss., on Sept. 21, 2005, beginning a 22-month separation from their families and loved ones until July 26, 2007. After training for nearly seven months Echo Company deployed to Camp Al Taqadum, Iraq. Two months into the deployment the company was asked to send half of its soldiers to Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq.
"Both missions were vital to and contributed to the success of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, known as the Red Bulls," Engle said. "In addition to traditional support missions of maintenance, recovery, and distribution, Echo Company, provided base defense security, which included entry control points and perimeter security towers.
"The support received from the home front was unsurpassed and Echo Company sends out a great big thank you to all of its supporters. We are very glad to be back."
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