Local unit returns home for the holidays

COL Stephen Falcone, Army Reserve’s 77th Sustainment Brigade commander, leads his command group and color guard forward during the units Welcome Home Warrior Citizen Ceremony held at the Marine Aircraft Group 49 hangar Nov. 19. The 77th Sustainment Brigade was among the last units to deploy to Iraq as the United States began the process of handing over operations to Iraqi forces and other U.S. agencies. Its 300 Soldiers arrived in January to serve as the headquarters element for an additional 3,500 Soldiers and Airmen assigned to put the logistical plan into action. During their deployment, they ran more than 1,700 convoys, traveled more than 4.2 million miles, issued more than 120 million gallons of fuel, moved out 2,700 tons of ammunition and transported 20 million pounds of incoming and outgoing mail. The unit transitioned more than $238 million in equipment, repair parts and other supplies to the Defense Department inventory. More than 20 percent of the 77th Sust. Bde. Soldiers elected to extend their deployments to join the 4th Brigade in seeing the mission to completion. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anderson Grant/Released)