Courtesy of The Birmingham News:

More than 150 members of a Cullman-based Army National Guard unit are to be welcomed home Thursday following a tour of about eight months in Kuwait and Iraq.

Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 167th Infantry, logged more than a million miles guarding supply convoys to and from U.S. military installations throughout Iraq. On Thursday, the soldiers are to board a bus convoy from Camp Shelby, Miss., to the Cullman County Fairgrounds, where they will attend a brief welcome home ceremony before being dismissed to rejoin their families.

Meanwhile, another state Guard unit now in, Iraq, the 1203rd Engineer Battalion, “will be back in Alabama somewhere around the first week of June,” according to a unit spokesman, Capt. Don Barnes. The Dothan-based 1203rd sent about 170 soldiers to Iraq, where it was based near the city of Balad and had about 900 additional soldiers and airmen under its command.

The 1203rd’s mission in Iraq included roadside bomb patrols, helping nearby communities erect security barriers, and working with Iraqi soldiers to repair bomb-damaged roads.

Welcome home, heroes!!!

A large Alabama Army National Guard unit will be deploying to Afghanistan next year. The 877th Engineer Battalion spent nearly a year in Iraq from 2003-2004, and with several hundred members, was one of the largest state National Guard units to deploy to Iraq. It will be the largest Alabama Guard unit to serve in Afghanistan, and will be the second Army Guard unit from Alabama to have a second tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Courtesy of The Birmingham News:

While in Iraq, the 877th was based in the northern city of Mosul, and its mission included building military facilities, repairing schools and improving roads in Mosul and outlying areas.

Lt. Col. David Ward, the battalion commander, said the 877th should have similar tasks in Afghanistan.

“We’ve got a challenging mission,” said Ward, who added that soldiers from other state Guard units will be working with his battalion.

In contrast to Iraq, where thousands of Alabama Army Guard soldiers have served in more than 40 units, far fewer Alabama Guard soldiers in a handful of units have served in Afghanistan since 9/11.

Per The Birmingham News:

An Alabama Army National Guard quartermaster unit is now training for an upcoming tour in Iraq. Army Guard spokesman Norman Arnold said about 15 members of the 1207th Quartermaster Detachment (Water Distribution) from Goodwater have been training at a military post for several weeks and should deploy by late spring or early summer.

“They can literally push water 10 to 15 miles out from a central point,” Arnold said.

Meanwhile, members of the 158th Maintenance Company, with headquarters in Tallassee and a detachment in Dadeville, also are preparing for an Iraq deployment and should begin intensive training at an out-of-state military post in the near future, Arnold said.

About 650 Alabama Army Guard members are currently on duty in and around Iraq and are slated to return home in the next two to three months.