More than a hundred Delaware Army National Guard members make their way home early from Afghanistan Saturday afternoon.
Members of the 153rd Military Police Company based out of Delaware City were scheduled for a 12-month tour of duty, but finished their mission several weeks sooner.
Major General Frank Vavala says the service men and women were responsible for security on the western side of Kandahar, including 4 police sub-stations, and 46 checkpoints.
“The were utilizing sophisticated electronic equipment which identified and detained six known Taliban members," said Vavala. "They did, all told, 396 combat missions, 1044 combat patrols. They identified three explosive devices.”
Vavala adds that the war may be over by the time they’re up for deployment again.
“We’ve been rotating units like that every three to four years so it will be awhile before they would return, but we’re supposed to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014," said Vavala. "I’m not looking for this unit to go back to Afghanistan. Maybe somewhere else but not Afghanistan.”
The company returned to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst last week for a 10-day stopover before heading home.
A ceremony honoring the soldiers will be held at 11am Saturday at Governor Bacon Parade Field.
