By Philip Grey, Gannett Tennessee
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. - In a combat zone, the
ultimate mission in the back of nearly everyone's mind is getting home
safely, and on Thursday morning, it was "mission accomplished" for 116
soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
They were greeted at the Campbell Army Airfield with raucous cheering, tears, waving signs and cowbells.
The
soldiers were returning from what is being heralded as a successful
start to a new kind of Afghanistan mission, as U.S. forces transition
from a combat-intensive role to one aimed primarily at helping Afghan
forces secure their own country.
But for most of their families, friends and significant others, their biggest accomplishment was coming home.
On
Wednesday, the brigade paid tribute to the loss of 248 soldiers who
were returning from peacekeeping duty in Egypt when they died in the
Dec. 12, 1985, plane crash in Gander, Newfoundland. On Thursday, spirits
were brighter as the unit was able to rejoice along with everyone else
in the safe homecoming of their soldiers from Afghanistan.