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SALT LAKE CITY — A couple dozen members of the Utah National Guard are embracing their families tonight after running a military base in northern Afghanistan for 10 months.
By the end of the year, the United States plans to finish sending troops to Afghanistan, and the 204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade helped keep that mission moving. They essentially managed a military base in northern Afghanistan, the way a staff would run a city and defended it while helping our troops get ready to clear out — for good.
"Safety is a key part of what we're doing there," said 1st Lt. Lance Curzon, after he greeted his wife and young children. "We are trying to keep everybody safe as we retrograde out of the country."
Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Baum and his wife Amy never spent this much time apart. For Ryan, it was his first deployment with the National Guard.
"We have to go on while he's serving," Amy Baum said.
For the Spanish Fork family, life's timing is especially challenging: Elder Lafayette Baum flew to Chicago four days ago to serve an LDS mission, just missing his dad's homecoming.
We still have our life to live. That's probably the hardest thing: just doing that without him, and knowing that he's missing so much.
–Amy Baum, wife of Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Baum
"We still have our life to live," she said. "That's probably the hardest thing: just doing that without him, and knowing that he's missing so much."
For 10 months, the National Guard members handled everything from managing supplies and defending the base, to keeping the Wi-Fi working and feeding the troops.
"Everything we did was focused on taking care of people on the base," Baum said.
The Sgt. 1st Class managed a dining facility that served 4,000 meals a day. He was responsible for making sure that all of the soldiers got plenty of good food.
"Long days, and lots of them stacked on each other," Baum said.
They also helped with the drawdown of troops and equipment.
"It was a huge undertaking," he said. "There's thousands and thousands of containers that have been taking equipment over there over the years. All of them need to get back."
So, the military is sending thousands of shipping containers back to the U.S., or disposing of them in Afghanistan.
"Getting rid of our footprint," Baum said.
At home, his boys missed his home-cooked meals and made adjustments to cope with their father's absence.
"I just had to step up," said his son, Wyatt. "Seeing him step up in the military and doing his part for the country, it really helped me do it with the family. It was awesome."
Right now, 200 members of the Utah National Guard are still serving in Afghanistan and Kosovo, mainly engineers and aviators. Another few dozen National Guardsmen head to Afghanistan in March.
