PADUCAH, Ky. –
The Solders of the 2113th Transportation Company hosted their welcome home during a ceremony at the Paducah-McCracken County Convention and Expo Center in Paducah, Ky., Aug. 17.
The 2113th arrived back to the United States in May from their 9-month deployment to Poland and Romania and took their 90-day respite for reintegration and this weekend was the first time they had all been together since their return home.
On hand to welcome them home today was commander of the 75th Troop Command, COL Jason Penn, who showed appreciation to the troops as well as their family who were in attendance.
“Thank you to everyone in this room, thank you for what you did. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifice. “So specifically to the Soldiers in the room, this nation, this commonwealth, asked (a lot) of you and you all absolutely delivered.”
He continued.
“To the Families in this room, this nation and our commonwealth owes you a debt that they’ll never be able to repay. You know, your soldiers, your sacrifice, directly contributed to this nation's national defense strategy. It provided for the democracy and the freedom that 99% of the civilians in the United States take for granted. Alright, you paid a price for that, and to that, I absolutely thank you to the children in the room, your loved one, your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your aunt, your uncle, whoever it may be, they're heroes, and no one can ever take that away.”
According to their commander, CPT Hope Smith, the unit had many accomplishments. Some at which were: 171-line haul missions, nine recovery missions, over $414,000,000 in class five, (ammunition), and $1,000,000 in class nine (repair parts) were transported by their truck drivers (88M). They also drove one and a half million miles through 14 countries and their maintainers conducted 250 services, and 600 repairs.
During the 5-day drill weekend, there were 23 out of 27 potential Soldiers reenlisted for another 6 years, most citing the deployment as one of the reasons they are going to stay in.
'They (those that enlisted) believe the deployment had a big part in that,' said 1st Sgt. James Matheney 2113th's first sergeant. "They realized that, hey, we wanted to stay in since they had a purpose and a drive to continue on their mission."