A group of Iowa National Guard soldiers who’ve been deployed to the Middle East are returning Friday.
National Guard spokesperson Jackie Schmillen says 150 soldiers from the Iowa National Guard’s 831st Engineer vertical construction company are coming home after a year deployment in the CENTCOM area. They provided support to Operation Spartan Shield in the region encompassing 27 countries, including Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
“The majority of these soldiers are from Middletown but they also have a detachment in Camp Dodge in Johnston Iowa area but we’re just so excited that they’re going to be coming home,” Schmillen says. The public is invited to attend the welcome home ceremony at the Iowa National Guard’s base at the Des Moines Airport. “So people would come in via the main entrance of the 132nd where they’ll be guided over to a building that’s part of a hangar. So when we’re inside the building, we will be able to watch the plane actually arrive,” Schmillen says. “We’re expecting that around 3:35 this Friday, and then the once they land safely The ceremony will commence shortly after that.”
During their deployment, the 831st completed over 50 construction projects, contributing more than 60-thousand hours of troop labor across seven U.S. bases. The return of this unit leaves 110 Iowa Army Guard soldiers currently deployed. There are also 360 airmen deployed with the Iowa Air Guard.