Courtesy Photo | Col. Donald Lovelace speaks during a welcome home ceremony for the Florida National...... read more read more
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STARKE, Fla. – More than 400 soldiers from the Florida National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group were welcomed home during a ceremony at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, April 8. During their eight-month tour in Afghanistan, the soldiers were responsible for Special Operations in the northern and eastern regions of the country.
Col. Donald Lovelace, the battalion commander, took the opportunity during the ceremony to publically praise his soldiers for a job well done.
“This group of men standing in front of you is an unbelievable unit,” said Lovelace. “You want to talk about elite units and premiere units, those guys can match anybody in this country. That unit right there is among the best in the United States.”
For the families of the soldiers, it was the culmination of many weeks of homecomings as the soldiers returned in waves to be greeted by their families. Wives, mothers, fathers and children waited alongside soldiers from the unit’s rear detachment, often into the early hours of the morning, to see their soldiers get off the plane.
Family readiness groups played a key role in maintaining communication with families who were spread throughout a large area. The FRGs kept in contact and provided assistance to families throughout the deployment.
From the beginning of the deployment, groups such as the VFW Post 8255 out of Middleburg, Fla., offered support and assistance to the soldiers and families by putting together care packages, sponsoring family events and offering emergency assistance to families.
“I can’t thank the families and the friends of the battalion enough,” Lovelace said. “It was a tough mission – we had our good days and we had our not so good days – and having that family support and the rear detachment able to help us out through a lot of difficulties was huge.”
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2011 08:39 |
| Story ID: | 68616 |
| Location: | STARKE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 321 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Special Forces soldiers return to Florida, by MSG Blair Heusdens, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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