Home for the holidays

Last update: December 3, 2008 - 11:04 PM

Home and happy. After six months in Afghanistan, 31 men and women of the 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard were reunited with their families Wednesday. They arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in a C-130H "Hercules" cargo aircraft after a 45-day mission in Afghanistan that involved moving cargo and troops in the combat zone. The 133rd Airlift Wing will deploy more than 300 members again this fall and winter, mostly to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Some will work elsewhere overseas in security, firefighting, aeromedical evacuation, logistics and other fields. Many of the men and women are serving their second and third deployments and, in some cases, more, said Capt. Shannon Purvis. Since 2001, the 133rd Airlift Wing has deployed about 4,000 members to more than a dozen countries.

KEVIN GILES