National Guard Deployment Returns to Oregon, Dec. 9

SALEM, Ore. – More than 200 Oregon Army National Guard Citizen-Soldiers assigned to 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, headquartered out of Springfield and Gresham, and part of Task Force Kosovo, returned home following their ten-month deployment to Kosovo, Dec. 8, 2020. The Oregon Citizen-Soldiers arrived at the Portland International Airport, Oregon and were greeted by senior leaders before later boarding buses to connect with family and friends at Camp Withycombe in Clackamas and Lane Community College in Eugene. The Citizen-Soldiers spent two weeks at Ft. Bliss, Texas for mandatory COVID-19 quarantine protocol prior to arriving in Portland. Since earlier this summer, Oregon Army National Guardsmen have been returning home from the second-largest mobilization since WWII. The final group of Soldiers who were deployed in Kosovo is scheduled to return home in the next few weeks before Christmas Eve. The last mobilization of Oregonians this size was in 2009 through 2010. “2020 dynamic year, both home and abroad for the Oregon National Guard. We are happy to welcome home our team members just in time for the holidays,” said Stephen Bomar, Director of Public Affairs, Oregon Military Department.