Out of Afghanistan

Photo By Staff Sgt. Edward Siguenza | Sgt. 1st Class Frank Limtiaco, left, elates knowing this is the final push out of Afghanistan for 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry Regiment, Guam Army National Guard. Limtiaco is one of nearly 150 soldiers who left North Kaia, Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 28, representing the last of Guam's nearly 600 soldiers to complete Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Eddie Siguenza/Released)  

HAGATNA, GUAM

12.29.2013

Story by Sgt. Edward Siguenza 

1-294th Infantry Regiment

MANAS TRANSITION CENTER, Kyrgyzstan -- The Guam Army National Guard's last cluster of soldiers in Afghanistan finally departed North Kaia, Kabul, Dec. 28 and arrived to a frigid cold in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, thus completing Guam's exodus of nearly 600 troops that recently ended their Operation Enduring Freedom campaign.

Close to 150 from the Guam Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry Regiment left Afghanistan's capital and arrived at this transition site safely. Guam's island warmth immediately hit, as other Task Force Guam soldiers stationed elsewhere in Afghanistan also arrived hours apart, creating a reunion of sorts. More than two dozen Foxtrot Company soldiers formerly based in Kandahar Airfield, as well as others from Delta Company, once at Camp Stone, west Afghanistan, met their Kabul-based brothers and sisters here.

The Guam soldiers will stay here for a few days. They'll head next to Camp Shelby, Miss. for demobilization.

Guam officially ended its historic OEF mission Dec. 26.

Approximately 200 Guam Guardsmen are in Kyrgyzstan.

• Date Taken: 12.29.2013
• Date Posted: 12.29.2013 02:21
• Story ID: 118666
• Location: HAGATNA, GU