CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - Family members and military and community leaders from Vicksburg and Hattiesburg, Miss., honored Army Reserve Soldiers of Detachment 21, Deployable Command Post 2, 412th Theater Engineer Command, with a welcome home ceremony Apr. 3, 2012.
Maj. Gen. William M. Buckler Jr., commander of 412th TEC, and Command Sgt. Maj. Ronald Flubacher, the TEC's senior enlisted leader, presented Warrior-Citizen awards to 14 of the returning Soldiers. The award consisted of a personalized, encased American flag, a yellow Welcome Home Warrior-Citizen flag, an Army Reserve Soldier lapel set and a specially designed commemorative coin.
Congress and former President George W. Bush established the Welcome Home Warrior-Citizen Award Program in 2004 specifically for Army Reserve Soldiers returning home from overseas service.
Twenty five other Soldiers who previously deployed received Warrior-Citizen Certificates of Appreciation during the ceremony from Buckler and Flubacher.
Buckler also administered the oath of reenlistment to Staff Sgt. Robert Nelson Jr., following the ceremony.
The detachment, led by Col. Craig Sanders of Lititz, Penn., and Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge, Sgt. Maj. Terry New of Vicksburg, landed at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Gulfport, Miss., Mar. 31, 2012, after spending nearly a year in Afghanistan overseeing U.S. Forces conducting engineer operations.
Dignitaries at the event included Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield, Assistant to the Mayor-Hattiesburg John Brown, Army Reserve Ambassador Stanley Reeves and Brig. Gen. Johnny M. Sellers, commander of 168th Engineer Brigade.
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