Three Kalispell members of the Montana Army National Guard’s Detachment 3 of the 230th Vertical Engineer Company returned home Dec. 30 from Afghanistan.

Spec. James Wisher, Spec. Ryan Lane and Spec. Maigen Makloski returned after a yearlong deployment with Detachment 3, a subordinate unit of the Montana Army National Guard’s 495th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.

They were part of a group of 15 who returned to various areas of the state including Missoula, Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman, Lewistown and Butte.

Headquartered in Hamilton, the unit conducted construction missions to support theater operations in Afghanistan. Wisher and Makloski were stationed at Forward Operation Base Shank, located near the town of Pul-i-Alam south of Kabul. Lane was at Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad.

Wisher, who was trained as a crane operator by the National Guard, said he worked on building guard towers and “B huts.”

“They’re used mostly for living quarters,” he said. “They’re wooden structures as wide as a trailer and about as long as one. It looks like a house with no windows.”

He described Shank as fairly calm, but with an occasional incoming mortar round. Wisher said his experience was different than what he expected.

“It was a really big base with lots of security,” he said.

Prior to deploying, Wisher worked in the lube and tire center of the old Walmart store in Evegreen. He plans to return to a job at the new Walmart while also taking electronic and heavy equipment courses at Flathead Valley Community College this semester.

He enlisted with the Montana Army National Guard after graduating from Flathead High School in 2007. Wisher re-enlisted while serving in Afghanistan.

“I enjoy the benefits the Army [Guard] has to offer,” he said.

The son of James and Lois Wisher, he said he missed super nachos and Signature Theatres while he was in Afghanistan. Wisher went to the movies soon after returning.

“I went with my sister to see ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’” he said. “It was pretty good.”

Makloski said the first thing she wanted to do was sleep after returning so late to Kalispell. She graduated from Flathead High School in 2005 and joined the Guard in December 2007.

Although her military occupational specialty is carpentry, Makloski said she worked in supply and completed a lot of paperwork while serving at Shank. Like Wisher, she said Afghanistan was not what she had imagined.

“The weather is a lot like Montana,” she said. “I thought it would really be hot.”

Makloski, the daughter of Shelley and Ken Makloski of Kalispell, was attending the University of Montana when she deployed with the 230th Vertical Engineers last January. She was pursing a degree as a physical therapist but has since changed her mind and wants to enter the dental field.

She has an opportunity now to go to work for a local oral surgeon.

Lane, the guard member who served in Fenty, said that base had attacks three or four times a month. One well-publicized attack took place in July, when eight Taliban members used a car bomb to try and gain entry, but eventually all were killed with no loss of life on the Army base.

He said he believed that Shank actually had more action than Fenty.

The son of Dale and Carmen Lane of Kalispell, he worked as a heavy equipment mechanic in Afghanistan. Before deploying, Lane worked at Midway Rental.

A 2006 graduate of Charlo High School, he joined the Montana Army National Guard in 2006. He is now in the process of moving to Missoula where he plans to attend the University of Montana. He hasn’t chosen a major yet.

He had a simple desire in mind when he set foot back in the United States.

“I wanted to sleep in a real bed for once,” Lane said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.