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The 161st Area Support Medical Battalion Company C of the North Carolina Army National Guard returned home to Western North Carolina on Wednesday, April 21, to a very large and happy crowd of family, friends, and proud community members. After more than a year away from their homes and families, these local heroes were anxious and excited to set foot on the soil of the mountains they all call home. While most of these soldiers are from Western North Carolina, particularly Asheville, some are from central areas of the state. A motorcade transporting the soldiers departed the Asheville Regional Airport at about 11:45 AM. The motorcade escorted the soldiers down I-240 East to Patton Avenue and past Pritchard Park to City-County Plaza before heading to Charlotte Street and back onto I-240. The motorcade then proceeded to Mars Hill College where a public ceremony and reception was held in the Moore Auditorium. Large and supportive crowds, many wearing red, white, and blue, lined much of the motorcade route through the city, cheering for the men who served so well and in such a vital role to their fellow soldiers. The 161st Area Support Medical Battalion is a field medical unit charged with providing first line medical and dental treatment for support personnel behind the front lines. These specialized troops are designed to break into as many as six different elements to set up and operate small general practice clinics. This company is headquartered in Asheville, while the battalion is stationed in Mobile, Alabama. Company C left the mountains on February 9, 2003, spent many weeks at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and finally went to Kuwait on April 18, 2003. They were stationed in several places in Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar. (Image provided by the Army National Guard)
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