HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Huntsville Army National Guard members are back home after spending weeks in Louisiana for hurricane relief.

53 soldiers from the Alabama army national guard’s 128th military police company returned home Wednesday from a security mission following Hurricane Ida.

“It’s really hard to describe unless you see it. there’s a lot of damage obviously, Hurricane Ida was… it absolutely tore through,” says 2nd Lt. Dakota Christopher.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey deployed the soldiers. They were there for three weeks headquartered in Thibodaux, Louisiana at Nicholls State University. They assisted local law enforcement with checkpoints, joint patrols with and ensuring order.

“We provide an asset that helps local sheriffs, local law enforcement, help the populous of the local community and when they see us, they think OK we will be ok,” says Lt. Col. James Napier, Army National Guard Deputy Commander for 142 Military Police Brigade.

2nd Lieutenant Dakota Christopher says the destruction was unimaginable. Christopher says it was nice to play a small part in the recovery efforts made in the 21 days they were in Louisiana.

“We worked in the Terrebonne Parish, it’s down in the bayou. Power was almost nothing so anyone who didn’t have a generator was straight out of luck. But by the time we got out of there from what I heard there was about 95 percent power in a lot of the areas we were working,” says 2nd Lt. Christopher.

The mission was part of a joint effort with the 214th military police company out of Alexander City.