More Oklahoma Soldiers Return Home Friday, More Expected Sunday

The return of soldiers with the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat team from Afghanistan and Kuwait is continuing.

Friday, March 30th 2012, 8:34 am



The return of soldiers with the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat team from Afghanistan and Kuwait is continuing.

A group of 171 soldiers was welcomed home Friday morning in Oklahoma City.

The hanger at the Will Rogers Air National Guard Base was packed with families and friends of those soldiers, many of whom had been away a year or in some cases even more.

These men and women were met with a lot of smiles hugs and tears.

The Brigade Commander, Colonel Joel Ward, also works for the Tulsa Police Department. This was his third deployment and he told us this was one of his toughest missions.

There were 14 soldiers with the 45th who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Five of those were part of Colonel Ward's brigade.

His wife told us that the Colonel is actually one of only three brigade commanders with the Thunderbirds to take his unit to war.

Colonel Ward is set to retire in July, but he will go back to helping fight crime with the TPD's gang unit.

About 9 waves of soldiers from the 45th have returned home so far. Another wave will be welcomed home Saturday morning.

Nearly 2,200 soldiers from the 45th deployed to Afghanistan last June and about 800 more were sent to Kuwait at the same time.

Soldiers Return Back Home

The Guard says most of those soldiers have now returned to the United States and the last group is expected to arrive in Mississippi for de-mobilization processing in the next two weeks.

Keep checking here for new developments in this story, and News On 6 viewers can watch reporter Tess Maune's report on News On 6 at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

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