PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. –
U.S. Northern Command concluded DoD installation support to Operation Allies Welcome with the closure of safe haven operations at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., March 15.
On February 19, Operation Allies Welcome announced that all remaining Afghan evacuees had departed Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, where they had been temporarily housed since evacuating Afghanistan, awaiting to be resettled in their new communities across the nation.
DoD support to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the OAW mission continues, but in a different form, as the mission moves from DoD installations to a location at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia.
“I am incredibly proud of the exceptional effort DoD service members and civilians along with interagency partners and volunteers put forth supporting the Department of Homeland Security-led Operation Allies Welcome,” said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.
The DoD, through USNORTHCOM and its component commands, supported and housed nearly 74,000 Afghan evacuees at eight safe havens over the past seven months.
Other DoD installations included Fort Lee, Virginia; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.; Fort Pickett, Virginia; Camp Atterbury, Indiana; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.