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Guard Green Berets recognized in Afghanistan

More than 80 soldiers with the National Guard’s 20th Special Forces Group were recognized for their accomplishments during an April 23 ceremony at Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan on the eve of their redeployment.

The Green Berets of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, come from Alabama, North Carolina, New Mexico, Kentucky, Florida, Maryland and other states.

The ceremony was held after a six-month rotation and was meant to provide a chance for the soldiers to gather while they were still all in one place, according to a press release from Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan.

“The importance of today was that it’s the last time, in country, that we will all be together,” company commander Maj. Philip H. Macchi, a lawyer from Massachusetts, said in the release. “In doing what we did today, the guys who fought together and served overseas together were able to see each other and get recognized together. We also had Col. Haas there, the man we fought under, presenting the awards, which would not have been a possibility at all, at home.”

Col. Christopher K. Haas, commander of CJSOTF-A, officiated at the ceremony.

The National Guard Special Forces soldiers worked to establish and maintain security in the volatile southern region of Afghanistan, conducting more than 150 combined and joint combat operations “resulting in the deaths of more than 350 insurgents,” the release said.

Macchi said in the release that the company participated in more than 200 combat reconnaissance patrols, 60 medcaps and were involved in more than 50 fire fights.