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With just two days’ notice, Mark and Tish Roland drove 24 hours straight from Florida to guarantee they would be in Nebraska for a Nebraska Army National Guard July 13 homecoming ceremony. Mark, who turned 59-year-old that day, said the impromptu trip meant he would receive the “best birthday gift” ever: his son home safely.
“This is as good as it gets,” Mark said.
The Florida couple are parents to Cpl. Dan Roland, a supply specialist with the 1st Infantry Division’s Main Command Post – Operational Detachment. More commonly called a MCPOD, the detachment is a new type of unit that is designed to augment and enhance an active Army division headquarters staff during mobilizations.
Dan was one of around 90 Soldiers assigned to the Lincoln-based detachment who were welcomed home from their nine-month deployment to Iraq during a ceremony at Haymarket Park in Lincoln. The unit consists of Soldiers who are specialists in such areas as intelligence, legal affairs, infantry, artillery, aviation, signal, administration, military police, engineers, chemical, logistics and public affairs.
First formed in the spring of 2016, the MCPOD Soldiers participated in several major training exercises with their active Army counterparts at Fort Riley, Kansas, before being mobilized August 2016.
“We’re very proud of him,” Mark said as they waited for the buses to arrive. “He always wanted to do this, and I’m glad he fulfilled a dream he has always had.”
According to his parents, Corporal Roland was fortunate to receive a full-time position with the Nebraska National Guard shortly after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In that position, he helped prepare the unit’s supply operations for deployment – something he always wanted to do.
“The military has never treated us wrong,” said Mark, himself a U.S. Air Force veteran. “I know this was a good experience for him, and he will have a good future here.”
Tish tried to put into words what the day meant to her, but found she could only mutter the word “Emotional,” before taking a deep breath, tears falling from her eyes.
“The best thing is with social media we could actually see him and talk to him…and it just made it so much better,” Tish said. “When Mark was in the military we could never keep track of him, and now we have Danny and can keep track of his life, which made it so much easier.”
The Rolands were just one of dozens of individual stories that unfolded in front of Haymarket Park as each of the deployed Soldiers were welcomed to Nebraska after arriving from Fort Riley via chartered buses. For example, as Sgt. Adam Pierce stepped off one of the two buses shuttling the MCPOD Soldiers to Haymarket Park for the homecoming ceremony, he was immediately greeted by his wife Cori, his 9-year-old son, Blake, and a large sign that read: “Welcome Home Coach.”
“The year’s finally over,” Cori said with a large smile of relief as she continued to cling to her husband and son. “He’s home!”
Adam said he was glad the mission was over so he can get back to doing everyday activities with his family. One of those activities is coaching for East Butler Public Schools where his son attends.
This was the first deployment for the Pierce family and Blake said it felt good to have his dad home. He added that he was particularly excited to finally be able to play baseball with him. In fact, his entire team, other family members and friends who had been supporting Adam throughout his deployment, were waiting for him to return home, signs of their own in hand.
Cori said she spent about two months making her sign for the welcome home ceremony, but it wasn’t just from her and her son.
“It was pretty much from the whole community,” Cori said.
In officially welcoming the MCPOD Soldiers back home, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts quoted Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s thoughts on courage.
“‘Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it,’” Ricketts said. “Thank you for your courage to put on that uniform. Thank you for the courage to go face our enemies overseas. Thank you for the courage to stand up for our country.”
Ricketts noted that courage and sacrifice are not limited to those in uniform.
“Every one of the members of the families for our National Guard Soldiers makes that sacrifice and has that courage,” Ricketts said. “In fact, your sacrifices allow your loved one to go overseas. They could not make that commitment if it was not for you. If the families weren’t holding together the home front; making sure the kid made it to that baseball game, or that dance recital; keeping the family together at the holidays; their Soldier wouldn’t be able to do that. Wouldn’t be able to defend us.”
“So, thank you for the sacrifices you make,” Ricketts added. “On behalf of the people of Nebraska, we are so proud of all of you for what you do to keep us safe at home.”
Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, Nebraska adjutant general, began his speech by summarizing the MCPOD’s maiden deployment by highlighting the most important factors: “Ninety left. Ninety came home, and that’s a pretty good day,” Bohac said.
“Job well done,” he added. “Recognize that this unit didn’t really exist 18 months ago. That in 18 months, we built it, stood it up and delivered a ready force to integrate with the 1st Infantry Division. That’s a huge achievement and it couldn’t have been done without many, many others, but it wouldn’t have been done, couldn’t have been achieved, without the commitment by the Soldiers of the MCPOD.”
Because of the MCPOD’s unique unit make-up and mission, the Soldiers were spread out, serving at 14 different locations across three countries. According to Lt. Col. Darin Huss, MCPOD commander, the Soldiers were often given assignments they never imagined they would do.
“But they learned the job, executed the mission and surpassed all expectations,” Huss said. “They worked hand-in-hand with coalition partners from over 20 different countries and all branches of the service. The results of their efforts facilitated the direct enablement of Iraqi/British partners in the fight against Daesh across the battlefields.”
“They proved the Nebraska National Guard can do any mission assigned and will not accept anything less than victory.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.12.2017 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 258398 |
| Location: | LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 180 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Families welcoming home ceremony for Nebraska Army National Guard MCPOD Soldiers, by Lisa Crawford, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
