Wisconsin National Guard unit returns from year-long deployment at southern U.S. border

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. (WKBT) — Nearly 130 soldiers in the Wisconsin National Guard have returned home after a year-long deployment at the U.S.–Mexico border.

According to Wisconsin National Guard Public Affairs, the Army National Guard’s 229th Engineer Company began arriving home November 9. The last few troops returned over the past weekend.

The 229th assisted U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents with security along the southwest border. In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense authorized a mobilization request from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for 3000 service members to support CPB at the border.

Soldiers within the unit are based in both Prairie Du Chien and Richland Center. The 229th were previously deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990, Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2012 as well as assisting with COVID-19 specimen collection and election polling station support during the throws of the pandemic.

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