Local Soldiers Return Home Saturday
Some local soldiers are coming home and you are invited to be part of the event. The Ohio National Guard will welcome home 282 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 174th Defense Artillery Regiment located in McConnelsville. They have been on a year long deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. The public is invited to the unit’s welcome home ceremony at 5:00 p.m. Saturday at Morgan High School in McConnelsville. The soldiers will be escorted from Zanesville by 500 motorcycle riders and the public is being urged to line the route from the 719 bridge south to McConnelsville around 3:00 p.m.
While deployed, the unit’s primary duty was to conduct a Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (CRAM) mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. C-RAM is a set of systems used to detect and/or destroy incoming artillery, rockets and mortar rounds in the air before they hit their ground targets, or simply provide early warning. During its deployment, the 2-174 ADA team successfully protected U.S. military, government contractor and civilian personnel, as well as strategic assets at various locations throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. –
