La. National Guard Airmen return home

NEW ORLEANS – Family and friends welcomed home 13 members of the Louisiana Air National Guard’s 214th Engineering Installation Squadron from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq at the Louis Armstrong International Airport, Oct. 25.

“It’s great to be back,” said Master Sgt. Joe Cagnolatti, cable installer from Lafayette. “It was a good deployment … I had good people with me, our team worked hard and time went by fast.”

The 214th EIS was responsible for the mobilization and deployment of resources and supporting assets to accomplish the engineering, installation, reconstruction, and replacement of communication systems, facilities and air traffic control and landing systems.

While deployed, the 214th established the first permanent underground communications cable on Thumrait Air Base.

“We’re very proud of our Airmen,” said Lt. Col. Allan Tucker, commander 214th EIS. “They received numerous accolades for their outstanding job performance.”

Last April, the 214th EIS mobilized and deployed approximately 40 Airmen to Iraq, Qatar and Afghanistan. The remaining deployed Airmen will return home in November.

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