Engineers Return from Iraq, Cut Forces in Afghanistan

Capt. Mike Custer, commander, 62nd Sapper Company, 4th Engineer Battalion — the final combat unit in Iraq — salutes a rendition of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” Dec. 22 during a welcome home ceremony. The combat engineers departed in August for one year of route clearance and sanitation missions in Iraq, where they’d cover thousands of miles in the Dhi Qar and Diwaniya provinces. However, an end of combat operations resulted in the unit’s abrupt redeployment after only four months.