We put ourselves in harms way for those ideals that we hold true.
We helped preserve the cause for freedom in which our forefathers established so that we may live in the land of liberty and freedom. Individually, each of you put forth financial support, time and other resources from your own pockets to ensure the members of this unit were “not forgotten”, so fitting is the motto of this fine organization, Homefront Hugs. Your sacrifices will always be remembered. I want to convey the deep pride I have for each and every one of you and, more importantly my respect and gratitude for those families and individuals of Homefront Hugs that supported us as we straddled the gap between civilization and its enemies of the world. We cannot fully appreciate what major contributions to ultimate peace you have made because of the support and provisions for the soldiers that you provided to them a little reminder of what it means to be free, not to forget, and always be remembered.
I encourage you to keep up the fight, let your hearts and minds remain strong, never waiver from your sense of duty and commitment to the soldiers you support. The unit has returned home now to enjoy the fruit of our efforts and labors….freedom. I hope that you will be reminded on a daily basis of the many ways you helped support, change, provided for the betterment of the soldier’s lives while deployed for 12 months to central Iraq. You can rest assured that you sincerely contributed to their well being and way of life which made the daily grind that much more bearable. My heart swells with gratitude, admiration, pride and wonder at the forfeit you and the families willingly accepted as we went about the business of preservation of freedom, risking our lives to free oppressed people, fight terrorism and protect the many generations to come. I am awestruck at the quiet heroism, professionalism and your character, which is a shining example to the world and to our fellow citizens, of what it means to be an American. Freedom and Democracy, they may be just words to some, but you and I know that these ideas are the foundation of our society. These ideas have allowed us to grow from thirteen colonies to become the most powerful nation the world has ever seen in only 228 years.
As commander of the unit, I want to publicly thank each and every one of you for your steadfast and dauntless pursuit of providing a sense of purpose to the thousands of soldiers. You made this deployment an overwhelming success for the leadership. You are heroic, brave, noble and selfless; It may not seem as if you contributed that much as a single individual, but as a unit, you made certain, the morale and life sustaining support items were put into the hands of my soldiers and countless other men and women of our services who continue to contribute their efforts against terrorism by delivering democracy to a nation which knew little of what freedom had to offer until we committed our services and selflessness to convey our freedoms to the rest of the world. This is an example the many attributes and characteristics of why you, as the Supporters, are going to be adorned a jewel in your crown by our Lord Jesus for your selflessness. You are outstanding Americans and the degree of patriotism and uncompromising professionalism in which you openly took upon yourself to relinquish for the wellness of my soldiers will long be remembered by those whom life you have touched and the nation we helped liberate.

 

CPT Timothy W. Vance
Alpha Battery 1/201 FA, West Virginia Army National Guard
Commander