Photo By Lt. Col. Anthony Deiss | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brandon Deffenbaugh is greeted by his wife and daughters as 15...... read more read more
Fifteen Soldiers from the South Dakota Army National Guard’s 200th Engineer Company were honored during a homecoming ceremony in Pierre, May 19.
Hundreds of family members, friends and community supporters assembled at the T.F. Riggs High School auditorium to welcome home the Soldiers who served for nine-months in Syria.
The Soldiers served as a bridge training team where they emplaced and repaired bridges throughout the region to ensure freedom of movement for U.S. military and coalition forces.
State and local government leaders to include Lt. Gov. Matt Michels, Pierre Mayor Steve Harding and Maj. Gen. Tim Reisch, SDNG adjutant general, spoke to the 200th and their family members during the ceremony.
“What a great day it is to be in Pierre to welcome back these outstanding Soldiers,” said Reisch. “Congratulations to Capt. Francisco and Sgt. 1st Class Thorn for bringing everybody home safe.”
Lt. Gov. Michels also praised the team’s leadership and also thanked the Soldiers for the worked they did in Syria.
“I want to thank all of you in this unit for building bridges, and I don’t mean the physical type,” Michels said. “There are a lot of bridges that are built with coalition forces, with people who are natives, who understand now our country through a different lens, not some sort of a media prism.
“It’s by building bridges, literally, so we can have coalition forces support individuals who yearn for freedom… for people that all they want to do is live their dreams,” Michels continued. “Freedom wins, freedom overcomes and it’s because of the dedication of all of you who are willing to build those bridges.
“The governor and I are so honored, as just regular people, to stand on the shoulders of all of you in this unit, and others, who have served proudly so that we can live our dreams and have them come true,” Michels ended.
The bridge team’s commander, Capt. Mark Francisco, spoke of the Soldiers being ready for this deployment and a successful completion of their mission.
“Ten months ago I stood before you and told you that we were ready. And, of course, like any other South Dakota National Guard unit, we were,” Francisco said, during the ceremony. “We’ve had vast accomplishments, but the greatest has been the readiness to embark on such an endeavor.
“It all starts with readiness at home,” he continued. “It begins with the Soldiers and their support network and moves on to the readiness throughout the unit.”
In July, the team members left for Fort Bliss, Texas, and a few weeks later they were in Syria building bridges – successfully building two major bridges within the first three weeks of being in theater.
During the team’s deployment, the unit emplaced eight bridges, conducted 78 bridge inspections, and completed 49 bridge repairs, to name a few. The Soldiers conducted 57 missions outside the protection of their base, totaled over 600 mission hours and traveled more than 8,500 miles throughout Syria.
“I’m very proud of the job you did over there,” Reisch said. “You added to the great legacy of the South Dakota National Guard. Thank God for the safe return of these Soldiers and continue to pray for all the Soldiers and Airmen we have deployed and all our service members around the world.”
| Date Taken: | 05.23.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2018 10:30 |
| Story ID: | 278082 |
| Location: | PIERRE, SD, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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