Sixty-six soldiers from the Montana Army National Guard’s 495th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, headquartered in Kalispell, will come home on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. The charter aircraft will arrive into Glacier Jet Center located at Glacier Park International airport. The soldiers of the 495th CSSB returned into Fort Hood, Texas on Sept. 15 and are currently completing required demobilization actions.
The 495th CSSB has been supporting the logistical and retrograde support missions in the southern area of Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom since mid December of 2012.
“We are very proud of the professionalism and service of the Soldiers in the 495th CSSB during the past year,” Major General Matt Quinn, Adjutant General for the Montana National Guard said in a statement. “These soldiers moved an incredibly amount of supplies and equipment, under extreme conditions, during their deployment, helping to ensure the success of the overall mission in southern Afghanistan.”
This was the second deployment for the 495th, with the first occurring when the transportation battalion went to support Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
The 495th CSSB has history dating back to the militia in 1867 and the official creation of the National Guard in 1887. It was called into action for World War I and II, and again in 2003 and 2012.