SPRINGFIELD, IL (10/31/2012)(readMedia)-- Approximately 20 Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers who served in Afghanistan will return to Illinois this week. The homecoming ceremony for the Bilateral Embedded Staff Team (BEST) A9 will be Nov. 1 at 9 a.m. Camp Lincoln, 1301 N. MacArthur Blvd. in Springfield.
The BEST Soldiers were mobilized in January. They trained for a brief time at Camp Atterbury, Ind., before deploying to Poland for approximately two months to train with the Polish Land Forces 6th Airborne Brigade. The unique mission allowed Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers to train and deploy side-by-side with their Polish counterparts. Following the training, the Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan for a six-month mobilization. The Soldiers are from various parts of Illinois and were selected for the mission based on their training and skills.
The team was part of Task Force White Eagle XI, which included more than 3,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines from the U.S., Poland and Ukraine. The task force kept the roads between Kabul and Kandahar safe and reduced the insurgent influence in the area.
Task Force White Eagle had the highest rate of found and cleared roadside bombs in the region, greatly reducing the number of innocent civilians, Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition Forces who were injured or killed. The task force also worked in regions of the country that were previously neglected and helped build a new security presence. Additionally, the servicemembers worked with the Internal Security Assistance Force to coordinate and execute multiple raids with Afghanistan commanders that targeted the Taliban in Ghazni Province. The raids captured and removed a majority of the Taliban commanders and sub-commanders in the region. The task force also found and removed more than 30,000 kilograms of explosive materials from the area and the team found more than $21.3 million of lost and unaccounted for property.
BEST A9 was awarded 13 Bronze Star Medals, five Army Commendation Medals, two Combat Infantry Badges and three Combat Action Badges. They also received four Polish Army Medals-Silver and five Polish Army Medals-Bronze.
