Photo By 1st Sgt. Jessica Barnett | Pfc. LeTicia Thompson, a military police officer with the 35th Military Police...... read more read more
TOPEKA, Kan. — More than 500 soldiers of the Kansas National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 161st Field Artillery and 35th Military Police Company were welcomed home to Kansas from a yearlong deployment to the Horn of Africa.
The first of three groups of soldiers from the deployment were received during a homecoming ceremony at Washburn University Lee Arena, Topeka, Kan., Feb. 9, 2012.
The two groups of soldiers that followed met their family, friends and co-workers at the Forbes Field Hanger 662, 190th Air Refueling Wing, Kansas National Guard, Feb. 20 and 25, 2012.
The fanfare started with a motorcycle escort, provided by the Topeka American Legion Post 421 riders, from Highway 70 all the way to each location, letting people along the way know that heroes are on their way back home.
As each group walked to their formation during their respective redeployment ceremony, family and friends waved their patriotic signs high up in the air in hopes that their loved one would see it as they cheered and applauded their arrival home.
Soldiers of the 1st Bn., 161st FA and 35th MP Company spent the last year conducting stability operations in Africa to strengthen partner nation and regional security capacity for long-term regional stability and to prevent conflict and protect U.S. and Coalition interests.
The unit deployed March 2, 2011, after training at the Kansas Regional Training Center, Salina, Kan, followed by additional training at Camp Atterbury, Ind.
“Protecting freedom, making lives better and building partnerships is what the Kansas National Guard is all about,” said Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant general. “These soldiers carried out this mission in the Horn of Africa with professionalism and a can-do attitude that has become the hallmark of our troops. We thank them for a job well done and say ‘Welcome home!’"
“The 161, you carried on a great tradition of people of our state,” said Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, as he addressed the second group. “This last year we had the Sesquicentennial. The person of the Sesquicentennial, the first 150 years, was a military man, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and he was considered the greatest Kansan of the Sesquicentennial. It was in no small part because he was president, but because he was a military man. He served and he served and he sacrificed and he gave, and he continued to give. On his shoulders and the shoulders of the World War II generation, that greatest generation we stand, we build a great nation and we build freedom around the world and you carry that on.”
During the final homecoming ceremony, Lt. Col. Thomas Burke, battalion commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Ricky Matticks, command sergeant major of the 1st Bn., 161st FA, presented a Kansas flag on behalf of the battalion to Brig. Gen. Eric Peck, commander of the Kansas Army National Guard, which was flown over Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, Africa during their deployment. They received the flag during their deployment ceremony at the Bicentennial in Salina, Kan., from Lt. Gov. Jeffery Colyer, M.D., and Tafanelli. The flag was accompanied with a proclamation by Chris Biggs, secretary of the state of the State of Kansas, authenticating that the official flag of the state of Kansas was flown over the state capitol, Oct. 5, 2010.
“It has been my pleasure to serve with the professionals of the 1st Battalion, 161st Field Artillery,” said Burke. “Throughout this deployment, they have endured personal sacrifices to enable the safety of U.S. and Coalition personnel and equipment abroad while successfully conducting over 50 military mentoring missions in nine African countries.”
The battalion is headquartered in Wichita, with subordinate units in Dodge City, Great Bend, Lenexa, Liberal, Hutchinson, Newton, Paola, Pratt and Topeka. The 1st Battalion, 161st Field Artillery was the second of two teams that have been sent by the Kansas National Guard to the Horn of Africa.
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 05.04.2012 14:43 |
| Story ID: | 87911 |
| Location: | TOPEKA, KS, US |
| Web Views: | 319 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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