Nov 19, 2009 8:31 am US/Pacific
Nearly 100 Soldiers Return To SoCal From Kosovo
LOS ANGELES
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Nearly 100 soldiers of the California National Guard's 1st Battalion, 18th Cavalry Regiment return to the Southland today from a yearlong deployment in Kosovo.
The disputed territory in the Balkans declared independence from Serbia
in February 2008 in a region that has been unstable since the breakup of
Yugoslavia more than 18 years ago and where U.S troops have been part of a NATO peacekeeping contingent since 1999.
The soldiers returning today were among more than 1,200 California National Guardsmen tasked with peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, according to
California National Guard Sgt. Jan Bender.
In Kosovo, they spent their days and nights on patrols, provided security for other coalition forces, trained with Kosovan military forces, and performed humanitarian aid missions, according to Bender.
"I am proud and honored to welcome home the soldiers of our California
National Guard, who for the last year successfully provided security and
stabilization for the people of Kosovo," Maj. Gen. William H. Wade II, the
California National Guard adjutant general, said in a statement. "It is fitting that these soldiers are home just in time for Thanksgiving."
Kosovo has been under United Nations protections since 1999, after NATO
intervened to stop the repression of ethnic Albanians, who make up about 95
percent of its population. Many of soldiers returning today have also deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bender said.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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