New York Army National Guard Engineer Company is Back Home After 10 Months in Combat

827th Engineer Soldiers Return to Homes in Southern Tier and Buffalo Area

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Major General Patrick Murphy,the Adjutant General of New York, greets Soldiers of the 827th Engineers as they deplane at the Elmira Corning Regional Airport on Feb. 16.

HORSEHEADS, NY (02/16/2011)(readMedia)-- The Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard's 827th Engineer Company came home Wednesday, Feb. 16, after 10 months of repairing roads and building checkpoints in Afghanistan.

The 160 Soldiers were greeted by Major General Patrick Murphy, the Adjutant General of New York, New York State Command Sgt. Major Robert Van Pelt, and other Guard leaders as they stepped off a charter plane at the Elmira Corning Regional Airport shortly before 11 a.m. The Soldiers were bused to a nearby hanger where they were reunited with their families.

As the Soldiers stood in formation, and the strains of the "The Army Song" were played by a New York Guard band, the hanger doors were lifted and the men and women of the 827th were face-to-face with their family and friends again before they ran to be reunited.

The 827th's Soldiers performed incredibly well during the mission, said Capt. Jeffrey Miles, the 827th's commander.

"We doubled the workload of our predecessors," Miles said.

The 827th Engineers served with Task Force Red Dragon and the 1092nd Engineer Battalion. The task force, based at Forward Operating Base Shoran in eastern Afghanistan, provided engineer support at 25 different locations throughout the country. The unit was part of Regional Command East, covering 13 provinces in Eastern Afghanistan.

The unit took part in a number of combined arms operations with maneuver units from the 101st Airborne Division pushing into known Taliban strongholds. These missions included rapid road repair, construction of new bases and check points, and damaged vehicle recovery operations.

Part of their job was to help plug security holes by building check points and bases to reduce the enemy's ability to maneuver, Miles explained. There were fewer indirect fire attacks and increased security when those facilities were completed, he said.

The Soldiers worked on projects at 45 different sites and conducted approximately 120 combat movements in eastern Afghanistan.

Nearly half of the unit received recognition for combat service, including 70 recipients of the Combat Action Badge, two Purple Hearts and seven awardees of the Bronze Star Medal.

Miles praised the company's family members for holding the home front together while their Soldiers were deployed.

"It is incredible. The families have gone through so much this year," Miles said. "They were not getting shot at or getting IEDs, but they were in the fight just as much."

The Company received additional Soldiers for their deployment from the 204th Engineer Battalion located in Binghamton and the 152nd Engineer Company located in Buffalo.

The 827th is headquartered in Horseheads but also has a detachment in Walton.