National Guard soldiers coming home

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Ohio National Guard is welcoming home 282 soldiers after a year of deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sergeant First Class Charles Huff Operations N.C.O. for the 2nd Battalion 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment acknowledged the unit’s duty was to provide a Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (C-RAM) capabilities in America’s bases.

“Basically what they were doing was protecting the air space,” Sergeant Huff said. “Any time the enemies would try to project explosives inside the bases, they were there to make sure they didn’t impact inside the base. So they were kind of intercept team.”

March 31, 2018 the soldiers will land in Columbus, Ohio travel by bus to the Zanesville V.F.W. where about 500 motorcyclists will escort them to McConnelsville at 3:00. Sergeant Huff shared the soldiers are anxious to see their families.

“They’ve done a great job, they all went there, they’re all coming home safely,” Sergeant Huff said. “They’re excited to see their families, their families are excited to see them. That’s our main mission in this whole event tomorrow is to get them and their families together and on their way home as soon as we can.”

The public is invited to line the streets while the soldiers are escorted down St. Rt. 60 through the 719 bridge to McConnelsville. The unit’s welcome home ceremony is at 5:00 P.M. Saturday at Morgan High School.

For more information check out our original web article or call the V.F.W. Post 1058 at (740) 452-4491.