Bonners Ferry Local Guide including all of Boundary County Idaho

Idaho soldiers return from Afghanistan

Monday, February 19, 2007; KIVI

About 50 Idaho Army National Guard soldiers returned home Sunday, after a deployment to Afghanistan that kept them away from family and friends for over a year. The members of the 183rd Aviation Battalion landed around 2 pm and were greeted by a cheering crowd of hundreds of family and supporters. "My son's coming home from Afghanistan," Carol VanVleet said of her son Adam, "This whole week I just can't stop smiling." When the plane landed, the crowd rushed out to greet the soldiers, embracing them in hugs and kisses. Small children reached up to be held by parents and eagerly started filling the soldiers in on all they had missed over the last several months. The battalion is based at Gowen Field and trained at Fort Hood, Texas, before leaving for Afghanistan in February 2006. The soldiers served across that country, including in the capital Kabul. - Full Story