SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. – The city’s 26th Annual Veterans Day Parade returned this year with the support of Fort Huachuca service members, local veteran organizations and community groups culminating with a ceremony Thursday in Veterans Memorial Park.
The parade featured Col. Jarrod Moreland, Fort Huachuca garrison commander, as the commander of troops leading service members from units across the installation, including U.S. Army Garrison, 111th Military Intelligence Brigade, Joint Interoperability Test Command, 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion and B Troop, 4th U.S. Cavalry (Memorial) along with the Fort Huachuca Fire Department.
“This parade is a great celebration of our partnership with the City of Sierra Vista,” Moreland said. “The parade recognizes all of our veterans past and present.”
Sierra Vista Mayor Rick Mueller read the official proclamation and thanked the community for their support of veterans and Fort Huachuca. He commended the active service members and their families for the hardships they’ve endured during their service.
Fort Huachuca service members fired the traditional 21-gun salute, and a bugler played taps to honor fallen veterans.
“I knew there was a huge veteran community in Sierra Vista; it’s truly an honor to see,” said Col. Christina Bembenek, commandant, U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, as began her keynote address.
“I think about the different missions our service members are sent to perform all over the globe,” she said. Although the Army’s mission is to fight and win our nation’s wars, more often you find service members assisting the poor, the weak, the oppressed and desperate, she explained.
“I think of the pictures from a few months ago of Marines lifting Afghan infants over a wall to safety at Hamid Karzai Airport [Kabul, Afghanistan] and the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division securing the airfield so over 120,000 American citizens, allies and partners could be flown out to safety,” Bembenek said painting a picture for the audience.
Veterans come from all walks of life, she said.
“We share two things in common, the love of what our country represents and love for our fellow Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Guardians,” Bembenek emphasized. “May we all be inspired to serve in a way that honors our veterans.”
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
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