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CAMP KINSER, Okinawa - When service members return home with
their unit from a deployment, they normally get a celebratory
welcome. Family and friends usually hold banners and balloons,
waiting to be reunited. However, service members who return
individually rarely get to experience the unit-level welcome
familiar to most Americans. Marine Corps Community Services works to
give those individuals the same level of recognition for the crucial
and dangerous mission they have completed.
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Col. Edmund J. Bowen, right, presents Marine Corps Community Service
Individual Augmentee Welcome Home packages to Marines on May 13,
2014 at Camp Kinser. The Marines received the packages following
their seven-month long deployment to Afghanistan in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom. Bowen is the commanding officer of
Combat Logistics Regiment 37, and the Marines are with CLR-37, 3rd
Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force. (U.S. Marine
Corps photo by Sgt. Anthony J. Kirby)
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Three Marines with 3rd Marine Logistics Group received
MCCS Individual Augmentee Welcome Home packages on May 13, 2014
at Camp Kinser.
Individual
augmentees are service members who solely deploy with a unit
outside their parent command to fill the position of a
specialized skill in demand.
“When individual
augmentees deploy, a lot of times they don't have a return
reunion as service members would have coming back from
deployment with a unit,” said Joann Ninneman-Nakama, the
community services coordinator for MCCS on Camp Kinser. “We
want (individual augmentees) to be recognized for their
efforts. That's why this program was conceived.”
The
Marines who were recognized May 13 include Cpl. Joel A.
Gibbs, a landing support specialist, Sgt. Jennifer M. Moore,
an administrative specialist, and Staff Sgt. Joseph R.
Gonzales, the cargo air liaison element chief, all with
Combat Logistics Regiment 37, 3rd MLG, III Marine
Expeditionary Force. They received the packages after
returning from a seven-month long deployment to Afghanistan
in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“It's a
refreshing feeling knowing that the work I did there was
appreciated,” said Gibbs, a Logansport, Ind., native.
Col. Edmund J. Bowen, regimental commanding officer of
CLR-37, presented the packages on behalf of MCCS. They
consisted of letters of appreciation from the assistant
chief of staff of MCCS for Marine Corps Installations
Pacific, as well as MCCS thank you coins and MCCS products
and services.
The products and services included
vouchers for meals, tours, plane tickets, bowling and
outdoor recreation activities.
“All I expected to get
was a simple ‘good job and welcome back,'” said Gonzales, an
Idaho Falls, Idaho, native. “Out of five deployments, I've
never received anything like this – it's good.”
By U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Anthony J. Kirby
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
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