Welcome Home, RAOC!

The 151st Rear Area Operations Center (RAOC), in Iraq for the last 11 months, retuned home to Montevideo, MN on Friday night much to the delight of hundreds of friends and family members throughout Minnesota. They were preceeded in redeployment by Company A 1-151 Field Artillery and Company C 1-151 Field Artillery, from Marshall and Morris, MN respectively, a few weeks ago. I count many of those who deployed as my friends and I'm glad they're all home. The Battalion Command Sergeant Major and I both agreed that we breathed a collective sigh of relief when we knew the last flight of soldiers were back home in Minnesota. Of course, it meant a little more to him because his son was one of the deployed soldiers. It's been a long year. I logged over 8,300 miles on my car, and was on duty 80 days (or 1 in 4.5 days for the year). Our battalion completed an arduous mission, with over 330 soldiers serving in Iraq. Families of those who are deployed have a mission that is easily as challenging as that of their spouses. Supporting them requires a lot more than one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. Until the call comes for me to deploy, it's the best contribution I can make. For more information, visit http://www.151raoc.org