fbpx

PHOTOS: An Emotional Homecoming for the 495th

Montana National Guard soldiers came home Saturday night after nine months in Afghanistan

By Justin Franz
Dale Mortieau hugs his wife Lisa and daughter Morgan after being deployed in Afghanistan for nine months. Justin Franz | Flathead Beacon.

GLACIER PARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — Lisa Montieau was waiting for this moment for nine long and lonely months.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on March 16, on a dark runway at Glacier Park International Airport, Montieau was reunited with her husband, Dale, who has spent the better part of a year deployed with the Montana Army National Guard’s 495th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Afghanistan. Montieau of Helena was joined by her 12-year-old daughter, Morgan.

“You’re both nervous and excited,” Montieau said a few minutes before her husband’s plane landed.

Dale Montieau was one of 65 Army National Guard soldiers who arrived in Kalispell on March 17. In addition to their families and military officials, the soldiers were also greeted by Gov. Steve Bullock and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.