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Sgt. Mitch Thompson, a unit supply specialist assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, greets his newborn daughter for the first time, at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. While Thompson was deployed to Korea for a nine-month training rotation, his child was born, waiting to meet him when he returned home.

Sgt. Mitch Thompson, a unit supply specialist assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, greets his newborn daughter for the first time, at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. While Thompson was deployed to Korea for a nine-month training rotation, his child was born, waiting to meet him when he returned home. (Katie Freitas/U.S. Army)

The Army’s Mountain Warriors are once again home in the mountains of Colorado.

The 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division received a warm welcome from friends and family at Fort Carson during an uncasing and welcome home ceremony Tuesday.

The soldiers returned from a nine-month training deployment to South Korea, during which time they trained with Republic of Korea soldiers, according to the division’s public affairs office.

The 3rd Cavalry Regiment from Fort Cavazos, Texas, replaced the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team in February. The 3rd Cavalry Regiment is a combined-arms unit from the III Armored Corps that can act as a reconnaissance and security force or as a Stryker combat team, according to the Army’s website.

The U.S. plans to maintain an active-duty force of roughly 28,500 personnel in South Korea under the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual Pentagon policy and spending bill.

Soldiers from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division reunite with family members at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March, 5, 2024, after a nine-month deployment to South Korea. After a briefing by Maj. Gen. David Doyle, the commanding general of 4th Infantry Division, soldiers were released to their families.

Soldiers from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division reunite with family members at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March, 5, 2024, after a nine-month deployment to South Korea. After a briefing by Maj. Gen. David Doyle, the commanding general of 4th Infantry Division, soldiers were released to their families. (Katie Freitas/U.S. Army)

Friends and family of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division soldiers watch as their Mountain Warrior soldiers stand in formation at a welcome-home and uncasing ceremony at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

Friends and family of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division soldiers watch as their Mountain Warrior soldiers stand in formation at a welcome-home and uncasing ceremony at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (Katie Freitas/U.S. Army)

Col. Keith Benedict, commander of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Cobb, senior enlisted advisor for 2SBCT, unfurl the brigade colors during an uncasing and welcome home ceremony at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

Col. Keith Benedict, commander of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Cobb, senior enlisted advisor for 2SBCT, unfurl the brigade colors during an uncasing and welcome home ceremony at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (Katie Freitas/U.S. Army)

Maj. Gen. David Doyle, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, celebrates the completion of a successful nine-month rotation to South Korea for 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team during a short speech at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March. 5, 2024.

Maj. Gen. David Doyle, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, celebrates the completion of a successful nine-month rotation to South Korea for 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team during a short speech at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March. 5, 2024. (Katie Freitas/U.S. Army)

Soldiers of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, march into the Fort Carson Special Events Center during a welcome home and uncasing ceremony at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Families gathered at the SEC to greet their soldiers after a nine-month deployment to South Korea training alongside Republic of Korea soldiers.

Soldiers of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, march into the Fort Carson Special Events Center during a welcome home and uncasing ceremony at Fort Carson, Colo., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Families gathered at the SEC to greet their soldiers after a nine-month deployment to South Korea training alongside Republic of Korea soldiers. (Katie Freitas/U.S. Army)

Brian McElhiney is a reporter for Stars and Stripes based in Okinawa, Japan. He has worked as a music reporter and editor for publications in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Oregon. One of his earliest journalistic inspirations came from reading Stars and Stripes as a kid growing up in Okinawa.

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