Armed Forces Appreciation Day

CORAOPOLIS, PA, UNITED STATES

05.16.2015

Story by Sgt. Christopher Bigelow 

316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - Pennsylvania veterans and community leaders came together to celebrate and commemorate the armed forces during an Armed Forces Appreciation Day event May 16, 2015, at the McGarity Army Reserve Center in Coraopolis, Pa.

The 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), a U.S. Army Reserve unit in Coraopolis, Pa., hosted the event that featured a ceremony honoring fallen Soldiers from the community. The ceremony also included an enlistment/reenlistment for 25 of the U.S. Army Reserves newest enlistees, and 11 reenlistees.

316th ESC military vehicles were set up at the McGarity Army Reserve center for the public to explore. The 316th ESC command chaplain, Capt. Mathew Todaro and retired Pittsburgh Steeler and community leader, Tunch Ilkin, hosted an open chapel service for the community.

"I want to express my gratitude to these men and women and their families for sacrificing so much to provide us with the freedoms that we all enjoy," said Ilkin as he spoke alongside congressmen from the 12th and 18th districts Keith Rothfus and Tim Murphy during the ceremony.

At the ceremony, Brig. Gen. Richard C. Staats, the commanding general of the 316th ESC, helped 36 enlistees and reenlistees swear their oaths of enlistment to the U. S. Army Reserve.

"It takes a special kind of person to enlist in the military during a time of war.

These young men and women are patriots and I’m proud to be serving with each of them," Staats added.

Armed Forces Day is part of a week-long celebration of the military. It is also part of Military Appreciation Month it occurs on the third Saturday in May, and Armed Forces Week starts on the second Saturday in May and ends on Armed Forces Day.

• Date Taken: 05.16.2015
• Date Posted: 06.12.2015 17:39
• Story ID: 166475
• Location: CORAOPOLIS, PA, US