230th MPs re-deploy

***image1***Approximately 146 members of the 230th Military Police Company returned home Saturday from a yearlong deployment in Iraq to a resounding welcome from friends and family and to praise from their battalion commander for a mission welldone.

The 230th MP Company, a unit of the 95th MP Battalion and 21st Theater Support Command, spent the last year patrolling the streets of Baghdad.

“I know the Soldiers are very tired and have had a long trip from Kuwait,” said Lt. Col. Randall Twitchell, 95th Military Police Battalion commander. “But I want to thank all these fine Soldiers for their service to their country. They truly are heroes, every one of them.”

The Soldiers flew back from Kuwait to Ramstein and then were bused back to Rhine Ordnance Barracks where family members were waiting with anticipation.

“We have been married for 21 years, and I still think that we are on our honeymoon,” said Carla Shigley, wife of Sgt. 1st Class Scott Shigley who has been downrange since March 15.

“God got us through it – and a lot of e-mailing, even if we were just sending a bunch of X’s and O’s back and forth,” she said.

Some of the family members had arrived at ROB early because of the snow that had fallen earlier in the morning.

Amy Jensik, wife of 230th MP Company’s commanding officer, Capt. Michael Jensik, was one of those who got an early start. She said she and her 8-month-old son, Connor, left her home in Heidelberg at 12:30 p.m. to make sure that they would arrive in time.

For Mrs. Jensik, this wasn’t her first experience of being separated from her husband. Captain Jensik had previous deployments in Kosovo, Bosnia and Kuwait.

“This is our fourth,” she said. “But it’s been the longest and the hardest because of our baby,” she said.

The troops had been scheduled to land at Ramstein at 2 p.m. and arrive at ROB approximately two hours after that. Encountering a slight delay stemming from a jammed cargo door, the troops were almost an hour behind schedule.

Shannon Crum, along with her three children, waited patiently for the arrival of her husband Spec. Rodney Crom.

“It’s been a very long time,” she said. “I don’t really know what I am going to say to him. We’re probably going to do a lot of hugging.”
The Soldiers will go through reintegration, receive a formal welcome ceremony Saturday and then go on 30-day block leave.