CORDELE — Carl J. Archer with Cordele’s local Army National Guard unit has notified Cordele-Crisp Chamber of Commerce President Monica Simmons that members of the Guard who are returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan won’t be together as a group again until July.
During the weekend of July 17-18, he says, Freedom Salute Awards will be presented to the soldiers, and local community and civic leaders wil be invited to welcome the unit back home at that time. If other community events are planned, he says, they should be that weekend as well.
Company C 2nd Battalion 121st Infantry 48th Infantry Brigade Combat team is winding down a yearlong combat deployment. Currently, the unit is scheduled to return to Fort Stewart for demobilization sometime between March 30 and April 3.
Archer says the unit will be coming home in multiple lifts. The focus of the demobilization process will be health assessment, equipment turn-in, administrative out-processing, and reintegration with the family.
Because of the "flexible nature" of the unit's return, Archer says no ceremonies are planned at Fort Stewart. Much of the unit will be on leave after the return and the first time the bulk of the soldiers will be together again will be in July.
