Welcome Home to the 330th
By State Senator Joe Leibham
On Wednesday, Aug. 26, I had the honor of officially representing the good citizens of Sheboygan County at the welcome-home ceremony for the soldiers of the 330th Military Police Detachment. The unit, which is based out of the Sheboygan Army Reserve center in Sheboygan, returned home from a 10-month mission in Afghanistan.
The welcome-home ceremony was exciting and emotional. The weather was beautiful and a nice crowd of family, friends and regular citizens gathered at the reserve center to greet the returning troops. As the soldiers departed the bus to the cheers of the crowd, it was hard not to get caught up in the emotion when they, one by one, were swarmed by their families and loved ones. The veteran grandfather proudly welcoming home his young soldier grandson, and the young soldier dad holding his infant son who couldn’t have been more then 10 months old were just two of the many happy reunions.
My comments were brief. I explained that I was honored to be at the ceremony on behalf of the thousands of Sheboygan County residents who couldn’t be at the ceremony because they were busy going about their normal lives –working, shopping, spending time with families – enjoying the normalcy of life in America, a normalcy that is made possible because of the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the detachment and other military units that are serving and have served to keep our nation safe and free.
As Americans, we are blessed that a collection of our fellow citizens volunteers to serve in our military – so that we can go about living our normal lives without much concern or consideration of our fortune.
On our behalf, I welcomed the soldiers home, congratulated them on their successful mission and wished them well as they return to the normalcy of their lives – returning to work, spending time with their families and friends, enjoying the summer that has finally come to Wisconsin, watching the Packers defeat the Vikings and so much more.
Finally, I thanked the soldiers and their families for their willingness to serve, their belief in liberty and their love for America. I was humbled to be in the soldiers presence and proud to thank them on our behalf.
Wisconsinites can be proud of the extensive portfolio of benefits we provide to our active duty military personnel, our veterans and their families. Information on these benefits can be obtained at http://dva.state.wi.us/benefits.asp or by contacting me at the State Capitol.
As always, it has been a pleasure communicating with you. Please remember to communicate with me and share your input by calling (888) 295-8750, writing to me at P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882, or by e-mailing me at Sen.Leibham@legis.wi.gov. You can also logon to the 9th Senate District online office at www.leibhamsenate.com.
It is an honor representing the residents of the 9th District in the State Senate.
