Several thousand Fort Riley “Devil Brigade” soldiers are on their way home from the middle east.

According to the Army, soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, are returning to Fort Riley following a successful nine-month deployment to Kuwait. The first group of Soldiers arrived on post earlier this month, with the remaining set to redeploy in large groups in the next few weeks. The entire brigade will return by late March.

Several thousand Soldiers from the brigade departed for Southwest Asia in June.

During the deployment, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, visited the brigade’s Soldiers.

“What you’re doing here, this joint task force, is really the centerpiece,” Hagel told the “Devil” brigade troops during his in December visit. “It is the pivot point. It is absolutely critical to everything that happens. This business of what you do right here is essential to make it all work, along with the 60 coalition partners that have been assembled to degrade and defeat ISIL.”