JEFFERSON CITY, MO -- The Missouri National Guard reports friends and family gathered at the Carnahan Memorial Garden to welcome home loved ones from Agribusiness Development Team IV after a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan with the Missouri National Guard.
As always, state and local authorities joined by the Patriot Guard escorted the buses carrying the Guardsmen to Jefferson City with lights flashing and horns honking.
The team, composed of over 60 Soldiers and Airmen, was welcomed to the memorial garden by friends, family, colleagues and supporters who proudly waved American Flags. The Guardsmen were deployed to Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, where their missions included increasing agriculture production, transition the agribusiness from military-led to civilian-led to Afghan-led, train agriculture extension agents, create agriculture related opportunities for women, and much more.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Danner, adjutant general of the Missouri Guard, welcomed the troops home and thanked them for their much appreciated work in Afghanistan.
This is the fourth iteration of the Missouri Agribusiness Development Team. It has been built upon the successes of the previous ADTs and the focus has always been to promote stability within the volatile regions of Afghanistan by developing the nation's primary source of employment and produce - agriculture.
"It was Missouri that pioneered the first Agribusiness Development Team and it still has the best," said Nixon. "There are more than a dozen states following us."
Danner said the Missouri ADT is the best agriculture team in the world. They are a very specialized group of men and women serving in a very specialized mission.
Previous ADTs focused on brick and mortar projects. Team IVs mission turned the page in Afghanistan to increasing the capacity and legitimacy of the Afghan government by assisting the Director of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock and training the agriculture extension agents.
Danner recognized the sacrifice of Sgt. 1st Class Robert Pharris and the wounds that Spc. Eric Garcia is recovering from.
"That sacrifice by him is something we will all remember," Danner said about the loss of Pharris. "Each and every one of you took that chance. Thank you for your sacrifice and your service."
"On behalf of the State of Missouri, I salute you for a job well done," Nixon concluded.
For more information about the Missouri National Guard, please visit www.moguard.com.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKTVO