Fort Carson Soldiers On Ebola Deployment Heading Home After Quarantine

FORT CARSON, Colo. (CBS4/AP) - About 160 Fort Carson soldiers deployed to West Africa in November to help build treatment facilities to house Ebola patients and caretakers are heading home.

The returning soldiers were being kept in a controlled monitoring area at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington for 21 days, and now some of them are headed back to Fort Carson for a homecoming ceremony on Thursday.

During the monitoring period, the soldiers couldn't have physical contact with family members or other non-medical personnel, but they had phone and email access to their friends and families.

The soldiers were part of a military program that includes units from the Active Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard. Soldiers remaining in West Africa will continue to provide assistance.

Military officials say all of them received special training and personal protective equipment.

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