A Joyous Homecoming

Staff Sgt. Brian Comstock, a native of Elmira, N.Y., holds his son, Bryson, 4, and daughter Stella, 3 months, after a redeployment ceremony at Buckner Physical Fitness Center on JBER March 14. Nearly 100 U.S. Army Alaska Soldiers returned home to JBER March 14 from a nine-month deployment to the southern provinces of Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The Soldiers are assigned to the 23rd Engineer Company, part of the 6th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Engineer Brigade, home-based at JBER. During the Sappers’ deployment, the Soldiers performed dangerous route-clearance missions to remove improvised explosive devices along often-used roads to reduce the dangers of travel. The unit was featured in the National Geographic Channel’s “Bomb Hunters: Afghanistan,” and three-part Discovery Channel documentary “Heroes of Hell’s Highway.” (U.S. Air Force photos/Justin Connaher)