American soldiers tasked with defending against North Korean missiles with Patriot interceptors recently returned to the peninsula after a six-month combat deployment around the Middle East, U.S. Forces Korea announced Wednesday.

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment of Eighth Army arrived at Osan Air Base in South Korea on Oct. 30 after being deployed to an unspecified area overseen by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), according to a USFK news release.

CENTCOM is the U.S. combatant command overseeing 21 countries between northeast Africa and the Middle East, and local media previously reportedthat the unit was sent