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3rd ID Soldiers Welcomed Home From Afghanistan

From Savannah (Ga.) Morning News

November 12, 2013

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U.S. Army illustration

As Army Spc. Seth Wakeling propelled his wheelchair across Fort Stewart’s Cottrell Field Saturday morning he couldn’t help but smile.

Savannah Ga. Morning News

Hundreds of excited family members and friends of about 300 3rd Infantry Division soldiers cheered as the warriors marched across Fort Stewart’s Cottrell Field Saturday morning, returning from a nine-month tour in eastern Afghanistan. (Savannah (Ga.) Morning News)

The 20-year-old combat engineer from Arizona proudly took his place in the massive formation of about 300 soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team as they returned to the Coastal Georgia installation from eastern Afghanistan where they’ve been entrenched in combat for the last nine months.

Combat that cost Wakeling his left foot, and his chance to return home with his brothers- and sisters-in-arms of the Brigade’s 4-3 Special Troops Battalion.

“This is where I belong,” said Wakeling, who about a month ago stepped on a land mine during a dismounted patrol on the third-to-last mission his squad served during the deployment. “I’ve been waiting for this day since I was laying on the ground at 2 a.m. … I’ve been waiting. I love these guys.”

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