Fort Drum soldiers return home after fighting off over 100 attacks in the Middle East

FORT DRUM, N.Y. (WWTI) — It was the moment hundreds of families had been waiting for.

Roughly three hundred soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team “Commandos” returned to Fort Drum on March 21.

Families from near and far traveled to Fort Drum for the long-awaited homecoming.

Cynthia Schock sat anxiously at Magrath Sports Complex alongside her husband and grandson Riley.

“Once she landed, I just. I couldn’t stop crying. She texted me saying that she landed,” Cynthia Schock, mother of Staff Sergeant Rebecca Comtois expressed as she waited for her daughter’s arrival.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team was deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve for nine months. Units of soldiers were stationed in Syria, Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan.

This created fear for many of the soldier’s family members and friends.

“It was very difficult. It was hard having him away,” Michelle Walker, mother of a Fort Drum soldier said. But we’re proud too.”

The ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out shortly after the 2nd Brigade Combat Team arrived in the Middle East.

“As tensions flared in the Middle East in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas, there were a lot of bad actors there that tried to undo our position, our strategic position and advance in the Middle East,” Major General Gregory Anderson, 10th Mountain Division Commanding General said at the ceremony.

According to MG Anderson, the Fort Drum unit endured over 100 attacks while in these areas.

“Our Commandos beat them off,” MG Anderson stated. “They did so with distinction and honor, and I could not be more proud of this formation and what they were able to do as a team.”

This was the first round of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team to return to Fort Drum. Over 1,000 soldiers remain in the Middle East and will arrive back in Northern New York by mid-April.