Day of the Deployed goes national
A ceremony celebrating the first-ever national “Day of the Deployed” will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26. Bismarck State College will host the event at the National Energy Center of Excellence in Room 335. The event has been held for the past six years in North Dakota, and now the day will be celebrated on a national level annually as Congress has passed a resolution proposed by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven. The “Day of the Deployed” is to honor the nation’s deployed service members and their families.
The media and public are invited. Military representatives as well as family members of deployed soldiers will attend. The agenda will include:
- Welcome – Shelle Michaels, deputy director of development, Soldiers’ Angels
- Posting of Colors – North Dakota National Guard Honor Guard
- National Anthem – Meg Morley, Mrs. Grand Forks
- History of Day of the Deployed – Shelle Michaels
- N.D. State Proclamation – Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley
- North Dakota National Guard – Col. Bob Fode
- NDNG Commander of Deployed (Skype) – Lt. Col. Bill Watson, commander, 112th Aviation
- Military Family – Teresa Carrigan, mother of deployed
- Video Appreciation – Congressman Rick Berg
- Proclamation and Remarks – Senator John Hoeven
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks on America, the North Dakota National Guard has mobilized more than 3,800 soldiers and more than 1,800 airmen in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Currently, about 225 North Dakota Guardsmen are serving overseas while more than 4,000 remain in the state for emergency response and national defense. For every 10,000 citizens in North Dakota, 65 serve in the North Dakota National Guard, a rate that’s more than four times the national average.
