111 Arkansas National Guard soldiers return home

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — More than 100 Arkansas National Guard soldiers were back home in time for Thanksgiving after a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

The 111 soldiers with the 216th Military Police Company arrived Wednesday. The soldiers landed at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock about 1 p.m. and were bused to Fisher Armory in North Little Rock where they were greeted by hundreds of friends and family.

The soldiers left on May 29 for Fort Bliss, Texas, before traveling in July to their post near Kabul, Afghanistan.

One Arkansas National Guard unit — the 1038th Horizontal Construction Company — remains overseas where about 160 members are working to improve roads, drainage systems and fortifications at U.S. bases in Kuwait.

The company deployed in June for a nearly yearlong mission.

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