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Freedom Salute Welcomes Home 70 National Guardsmen

Members of the Connecticut Army National Guard’s 143rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion spent a 10-month deployment providing logical support throughout Eastern Europe.

The Connecticut National Guard formally welcomed home 70 guardsmen from deployment with a Freedom Salute at the William A. O’Neill Armory in Hartford Tuesday.

Members of the Connecticut Army National Guard’s 143rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion spent a 10-month deployment providing logical support throughout Eastern Europe while based in Poland. They also oversaw 150 convoys that traveled more than 500,000 miles.

These men and women deployed before Thanksgiving 2017 and came home in September, just in time for the holidays. Those who spoke to NBC Connecticut said it was an emotional and incredible reunion.

“Being there feeling all the emotions and excitement, it's amazing. the best moment of my life honestly,” said Specialist Richard Hoyt. It was his first deployment.

This is the unit’s fourth deployment. They went to Bosnia in 2001, Iraq in 2006 and Kuwait in 2013.

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