Home at last

TOPEKA — The troops are home.

A group of more than 60 soldiers, many of whom are from Crawford County, returned from Afghanistan's Laghman Province to balloons, hugs, kisses, posters, banners and more at a ceremony Thursday morning at Forbes Field in Topeka.

Brig. Gen. Eric Peck, the assistant adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard, welcomed Agribusiness Development Team 4 back home. Soldiers were dismissed after a short ceremony celebrating their service and the sacrifices made by both the soldiers and their families.

"Agribusiness Development Team 4 had great soldiers and airmen from units across Kansas and one from Maryland. We appreciate the fact that  number of the soldiers were volunteers, which adds to the mission. That's a force multiplier for this mission," Peck said, noting that the soldiers had completed a "job well done."

ADT-4 included a platoon of soldiers from the 772nd Engineering Mobility Augmentation Company in Pittsburg providing security while the other members, from around the state and elsewhere, taught sustainable agriculture and business techniques to the Afghan people in their province.

Lt. Col. Russell Richardson said that the soldiers helped establish 40-45 businesses in the province that will need no further assistance from the United States, in addition to markets and irrigation systems. Richardson estimated the team helped thousands of Afghans.

In fact, this group was supposed to be the fourth of five planned groups to go to the Laghman province. However, the mission was completed early, turning over agribusiness in the region to the Afghani Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and coming home after only nine months of deployment rather than the planned year.

“We fell in on Laghman province on a five-year campaign plan that was developed by ADT 1, refined by ADT 2 and 3,” Richardson said during the ceremony. “We refined it some more, then we finished and ended the mission a year ahead of schedule. We helped thousands of Afghans and we’ve changed their lives in a positive manner... The job that your soldiers did, you should be very proud of.”

The return of the soldiers also marked the return of the last major deployment of Crawford County soldiers from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Richardson said this would have a marked impact on the community.

"It will impact all of the families, of course, and the soldiers will be returning to their employers,” Richardson said. “The impact is immense. Once the soldiers are done with their leave, they will begin reintegrating into their communities."

Perhaps no one will be more appreciative of the safe return of the troops than their families. That includes Pittsburg’s Tory Hogelin, who still has a portion of the cake from her wedding to Sgt. Troy Hogelin waiting in the freezer. Sgt. Hogelin missed their first anniversary while he was overseas.

“I’m looking forward to just having him home,” Tory Hogelin said. “I am super proud of what he has done for the country, but I missed having him back.”

Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.