101st Airborne starts coming home after deadly tour

Commander says this marks the beginning of the return of 17,000 division soldiers deployed in Afghanistan

By Kristin M. Hall

Published January 7, 2011 8:41PM (EST)

In this Sept. 2, 2010 photo, a U.S. Marine, left, Flight Medic Staff Sgt. Richard Jarrett, second from right, and Crew Chief Spc. Bryan Channon, of Okla., help U.S. Marine Pfc. Justin Turner, center, of Flower Mound, Texas, who was wounded in an IED attack, aboard a U.S. Army Task Force Shadow medevac helicopter, west of Lashkar Gah, in southern Afghanistan. Aeromedical teams with the 101st Airborne's Task Force Destiny provide the fast medical evacuation of those wounded throughout southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (AP)
In this Sept. 2, 2010 photo, a U.S. Marine, left, Flight Medic Staff Sgt. Richard Jarrett, second from right, and Crew Chief Spc. Bryan Channon, of Okla., help U.S. Marine Pfc. Justin Turner, center, of Flower Mound, Texas, who was wounded in an IED attack, aboard a U.S. Army Task Force Shadow medevac helicopter, west of Lashkar Gah, in southern Afghanistan. Aeromedical teams with the 101st Airborne's Task Force Destiny provide the fast medical evacuation of those wounded throughout southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (AP)

About 275 soldiers have returned to cheering and crying family and friends at Fort Campbell after a deadly year in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of families marked the soldiers' return Friday. They filled a plane hangar with homemade signs, balloons and music.

The 101st Airborne Division lost 105 soldiers in 2010.

Maj. Gen. Frank Wiercinski, senior commander at Fort Campbell during the division's deployment, says this flight of troops from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team marks the beginning of the return of about 17,000 division soldiers currently deployed in Afghanistan.

 


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