National Guard soldiers return to Grand Forks from overseas

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) – A homecoming celebration was held Friday for some members of the North Dakota Army National Guard.

About 80 soldiers with Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery were welcomed home in Grand Forks. They had been deployed overseas with U.S. Central Command since November, 2023.

The unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Matt Voeller says their specialty is air defense artillery.

So, what we do is, we detect potential threats from wherever we’re assigned and when we detect those threats, we’re able to neutralize those threats,” Voeller said.  “Monitoring the skies and then engaging with whatever the threat may have been.”

The unit’s exact deployment location is not being released.

This was the 13th deployment for the 1-188th since 2004, making it the most-deployed unit in the North Dakota National Guard.