130 Division Marines, Sailors Return from Afghanistan

130 Division Marines, Sailors Return from Afghanistan
The 1st Marine Division's headquarters battalion served seven months as the command element for NATO ground forces in Helman province.
August 22, 2012
By Sgt. Jacob Harrer, 1st Marine Division

First Lt. Christopher Mcquade, the tactical movement control center officer-in-charge with 1st Marine Division, holds his one-year-old son Landon. Credit: Lance Corporal Corey Dabney

Hours before sunrise, Amanda Saul waited at the barracks for her husband to return from Afghanistan. She had been awake for four days with excitement—the deployment was ending early.

Amanda, a 22-year-old native of Grand Junction, Colo., moved back to Colorado for the deployment and said she received much support from her family in the absence of her husband, Cpl. Jeremy K. Saul, an embarkation specialist with the 1st Marine Division's Headquarters Battalion. Though close to family, she appreciated her husband’s help with chores and was happy to finally have him back home.

“Being able to come home to someone every day makes a huge difference,” she explained.

Amanda is one of dozens of friends and families who gathered to welcome home more than 130 Marines and sailors of the unit. After serving for seven months as the command element for NATO ground forces in Helmand province, the Division returned during a homecoming event on base Wednesday.
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