By April Dudash
More than 2,500 soldiers within the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade have already redeployed to Fort Bragg, but their equipment and aircraft are now making their way home to the installation after the year-long deployment to Afghanistan.
About 300 containers of equipment and 35 helicopters are being sorted and reassembled in the Port of Wilmington this week.
The cargo left Naval Station Rota, Spain, on Sept. 18, and docked in Wilmington on Sept. 26.
The helicopters are reassembled before 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade crews fly them back to Simmons Army Airfield on Fort Bragg.
The brigade spent a year at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan’s Parwan province.
The soldiers flew more than 175,000 hours, more than any other aviation brigade since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, killed more than 1,000 insurgents and completed more than 2,500 medevac missions, according to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade.
The brigade has nearly 200 helicopters to its name, which include the AH-64D Apache Longbow, CH-47F Chinook, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and UH-60M Black Hawk.
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/10