Published: October 14, 2009 11:34 pm      

Congress honors 56th Stryker Brigade

Pennsylvania National Guardsmen making up the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team are being honored by Republican and Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress.

A resolution introduced by Reps. Bill Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, and Tim Holden, R-Leb-anon, received overwhelming support in the House on Wednesday.

Sen. Bob Casey recognized the Stryker men and women last week on the Senate floor.

The brigade is made up of Guardsmen from across the state, including many from this area. They were deployed to Iraq for nine months before returning home last month, minus two members who were killed in action.

Members were deployed to Camp Taji, Iraq, where they performed more than 800 combined operations, captured seven brigade-level high-value targets and discovered more than 80 enemy caches, according to Casey. Their primary assignments were to patrol neighborhoods, target insurgents and sweep for improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

They are credited with making $22 million worth of reconstruction improvements in coordination with an embedded U.S. provincial reconstruction team.

In his House resolution, Shuster termed the 4,000 men and women of the 56th Stryker “our neighbors, friends and relatives.”

“Their mission in Iraq was vital to our national security, and they served with honor and distinction,” Shuster said.