34th Red Bull Infantry Division Departure Ceremony February 10th 4-8:30pm

The most humbling experience for me has been attending the departure ceremony for our troops from Minnesota and Wisconsin heading to Iraq for a year---3700 men and women are leaving to serve our country held at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota. Governor Tim Pawlenty, The Commander in Chief gave a wonderful speech to the troops thanking them for their service and many senators and local political representatives were in attendance.

The 34th Red Bull Infantry Division is known as the Sandstorm Division and was mobilized to Europe at the conclusion of World War I. They will operate in 8 of Iraq's 18 provinces, and will have a direct partnership with more than 40,000 Iraqi Security Forces.

It was an amazing turnout of family and friends and local restaurants rallied together to make dinner for 6,000 Soldiers and their family members-This is the largest single seating meal in the history of the River Centre complex.

I started at the far corner of the room I was seated in and went to each table to shake the hand of each soldier and thank them personally for their service. After many pictures with soldiers, I left feeling a deeper sense of respect and understanding of the type of men who protect our freedom and put our country before their families and themselves.

The picture on the top features one of the most highly decorated generals in the country--- a 4 star general, below that are the Wisconsin Soldiers and bottom is the Patriot Guards who were there to honor our Soldiers.