Town gives soldier homecoming party

November 11, 2009

By JoAn Bjarko

The Wellington

 

A career military man who has returned from 14 deployments, starting with Desert Storm, called his homecoming party in Wellington the most memorable.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Brian Bock.

Bock was also the first soldier to get a flag-waving send-off in Wellington this year. The Feb. 22 event became the first of several gatherings at the corner of Sixth Street and Cleveland Avenue in Wellington (Colorado) for area residents to celebrate the service of the community’s members of the Armed Forces.

This first homecoming event took place at the Leeper Center where volunteers had festively decorated the room with red, white and blue. In addition to the Bock family, the town invited Lt. Col. Gerald Clouse from F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne to speak.

Clouse had plenty to say. In particular, he noted that Bock’s unit, an Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron that maintains combat vehicles, has been nominated for an award.

Bock, who grew up in Lafayette, enlisted in the Air Force in 1989 as an auto body repairman and has served in many states and countries.

He was stationed in Kuwait from April to October. During the mission, his squadron of combat truckers and maintainers generated 335 missions and maintained 426 trucks that delivered 976 million pounds of equipment for Coalition forces traveling 14.8 million hostile miles in Iraq, Clouse said.

Bock’s unit was No. 1 of eight in similar areas of responsibility, Clouse said.

“He will tell you, ‘I was just doing my job,’” he added.

Clouse also praised Andrea Bock for taking care of family needs at home as well as always volunteering to help at events in Cheyenne for the spouses of other deployed soldiers.

The homecoming party was an event of thank-you gifts. Finish Line Awards presented Bock with a military Challenge Coin. Warren Federal Credit Union, which started on the Air Force base, gave a $100 Main Street Market gift certificate. Leslie Applegate of Soldiers’ Angels presented a pin. The town of Wellington honored Bock with a plaque and $100 gift certificate to dine at Beauregard’s.

Soldier send-offs and homecomings are sponsored by the Wellington Community Activities Commission and other volunteers. Anyone who knows of leaving or returning servicemen or servicewomen is asked to call 568-3600 or e-mail Kareenklarsen@remax.net so that the community can recognize their service.