115 Soldiers welcomed back to Fort Benning after deployment to Puerto Rico

Fort Benning welcomed home 115 soldiers from the 14th Combat Support Hospital on Thursday after a six-week deployment to Puerto Rico.

Members of the 926th Preventive Medicine Detachment from the post and other units were assigned to the 14th CSH unit while providing support after Hurricane Maria. A second group of soldiers are expected to return to the post early next week, said Nathan Snook, a media relations spokesman.

Many of the soldiers not assigned to Fort Benning are expected to depart to their installations Friday. During their deployment, the 14th CSH provided patient administration, triage, emergency medicine, two intensive care units, a specialty unit, pharmacy, behavioral health, radiology, an operation room and evacuation services. The unit provided medical services to 1,777 patients and performed 57 surgeries.

While work continues on recovery and restoring electricity, Snook said the medical capabilities were under control. “They got a lot of water restored,” he said of the unit. “Their specialties were no longer required.”

The hospital where the unit was deployed has been restored and operating. Soldiers also performed work on water purification, water testing and did some tests to check for dengue fever, a mosquito-borne illness. Ten members of the 926th Preventive Medicine Detachment were with the 14th CSH.

The 926th Preventive Medicine Detachment deployed on Oct. 2 for relief efforts in Puerto Rico while the 14th CSH deployed five days later to provide medical services.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 10:02 PM with the headline "115 Soldiers welcomed back to Fort Benning after deployment to Puerto Rico."