OUR MARYLAND NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ARE COMING HOME AFTER A LONG DEPLOYMENT IN IRAQ!!!!!  PLEASE HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY SHOWING THESE SOLDIERS WE THANK THEM AND APPRECIATE THEIR SACRIFICE!

Alpha Company, 175th Infantry, Frederick National Guard Unit was deployed last May with a send off at Baker Park in Frederick.  This last year has been a tough one for our troops and their families.  I am a member of the Family Readiness Group.   We recently found out our troops will be returning to the states in the next couple of weeks. 
 
Our brave young men and women have been fighting the war on terrorism in an unstable Iraq.  They have not only been separated from their families but they have missed much over the past year – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, births, birthdays, anniversaries, the list goes on and one.  We want our troops to know that we appreciate the sacrifices that they and their families have made and to have a homecoming they will always remember. 
 
WE NEED HELP THE HELP OF ALL TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN AND TO GIVE THEM A HOMECOMING THEY DESERVE!  Will you make a commitment to help us to cheer these brave troops on, to show them they have our support?  We need lots of support to make this a Wonderful Celebration!  Although we don’t know the exact date yet, we anticipate sometime in the second week of April.  We would like to line the streets with people cheering, waving flags and banners as they make their way through Frederick.   
We also need donations of all kinds!  We need banners, balloons, flags or any other thoughts you have for donating gifts, time or talents to make this a terrific welcome home event!  They missed Christmas so let’s decorate everything as though we were decorating for Christmas to show them how much we missed them.  It would be nice to see every home decorated – wouldn’t that send a great message to our troops.  We need lots of Welcome Home Banners and Posters made to decorate the Armory as well as hang on the streets, placed in store windows, we need flags for everyone to be waving.