Lane County soldiers return from Iraq this Friday

EUGENE, Ore. – A battalion of Oregon National Guard soldiers from Lane County just home from a tour of duty in Iraq will officially be demobilized at a ceremony in Eugene on Friday afternoon.

Family and friends will join soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment of Oregon’s 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team as they return home Friday at 1:30 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

The 41st IBCT’s tour was the largest deployment of Oregon National Guard soldiers since World War II. Most of them have been back in the United States for a week or two and are now at Fort Lewis in Washington.

Demobilization ceremonies were also held this weekend in Klamath Falls and Bend. Others are scheduled in Portland and Forest Grove.

The Oregon soldiers spent 13 months on active duty. While in Iraq they conducted more than 6,000 convoy missions over an area of 90,000 square miles, according to the Oregon Military Department.

They escorted trucks that carried water, fuel, food, ammunition and other assorted cargo.

Watch video from the demobilization ceremony in Bend on Sunday: