Willard returns from Iraq

    Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Jason H. Willard is returning to the U.S. after a deployment to Iraq serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn, or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and the Southwest Asia Theater of Operations.
    Willard graduated in 1990 from Houlton High School and received an associate’s degree in 2004 from Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.
    The soldiers return to Joint Base Dix-McGuire-Lakehurst, N.J., for debriefing, evaluations and out-processing procedures before returning to their regularly assigned Army Reserve or National Guard units.
    Operation New Dawn transitions and signifies a formal end to U.S. military combat operations in Iraq.  The transition shifts the U.S. emphasis from predominantly military to predominately civilian as the U.S. officials assist Iraqis in accordance with the Strategic Framework Agreement.  The three primary missions of U.S. Forces include advising, assisting, and training the Iraqi Security Forces; conducting partnered counterterrorism operations; and providing support to provincial reconstruction teams and civilian partners as they help build Iraq’s civil capacity.
    Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to anti-terrorism military operations involving U.S. troops and allied coalition partners.  Active duty and reserve component members from all branches of the U.S. armed forces have been deployed to support the war against global terrorism outside the borders of the United States.  U.S. troops serve in South, Southwest and Central Asia, the Arabian peninsula, the Horn of Africa, islands in the Pacific, and Europe.
    The sergeant is a motor transport operator regularly assigned to the 1136th Transportation Company, based out of Bangor, Maine.