| Returning Iraq veterans invited to October event at Lake of the Ozarks |
By: Matthew J. Wilson/Missouri National Guard Public Affairs
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OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Sept. 22, 2009) — The Missouri National Guard will host two events near the Lake of the Ozarks that are designed to assist and recognize soldiers who recently returned from supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
About 100 soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 106th Assault Helicopter Battalion, of Fort Leonard Wood, and Detachment 3, 1st Battalion, 185th Theater Aviation Company, of Springfield, are expected to attend the Yellow Ribbon and Freedom Salute programs on Oct. 3 and 4 at Tan-Tar-A Resort.
Yellow Ribbon is a reintegration program for soldiers returning from a long deployment. As part of the program troops will receive in-depth briefings on health and educational benefits they are entitled to under the GI Bill. Soldiers can also receive information on everything from dealing with stress to issues with their civilian employers.
The Freedom Salute event will recognize individual soldiers returning from their first or second deployment. Unmarried Guardsmen returning from their first deployment will be presented with a flag and commemorative coins to give to their civilian employers. The children of soldiers returning from their first deployment will receive a future soldier’s kit containing games and toys. For their second deployment, soldiers will receive rings. Spouses of deployed soldiers also receive a lapel pin.
Also being honored are those that provided a center of influence for the soldier while they were deployed with one of two types of honors. The person who was the soldier’s distinguished center of influence, the more prestigious award, receives a 17-inch minuteman statue, while the person deemed the soldier’s outstanding center of influence is awarded a large mosaic print of an American flag.
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Fort Leonard Wood-based Guardsmen honored after deployment to Iraq
Posted: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
THIS ARTICLE: Returning Iraq veterans invited to October event at Lake of the Ozarks
Posted: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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