December 10, 2020 3:30 a.m.

More than 200 Oregon Army National Guard citizen-soldiers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, headquartered out of Springfield and Gresham, and part of Task Force Kosovo, returned home on Tuesday, following their ten-month deployment to Kosovo.

They arrived at Portland International Airport and were greeted by senior leaders before boarding buses to connect with family and friends in Clackamas and Eugene.

A release from the Oregon Military Department said the group spent two weeks at Ft. Bliss, Texas for mandatory COVID-19 quarantine protocols prior to arriving in Portland. Since this summer, Guardsmen have been returning home from the second-largest mobilization since World War 2. The release said the final group of soldiers who were deployed in Kosovo is scheduled to return home before Christmas Eve. That will include Colonel Eric Riley of Roseburg.