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VOL. 3/ISSUE 13
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
Surprise! Soldier gets welcome-home party following third deployment Mary Kemper STAFF WRITER
mkemper@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Amber Mitchem, Port St. Lucie, thought she was going to a local mall to go shopping with two of her best friends. Instead, she was driven to a surprise welcome-home party given in her honor by members of AMVETS Post 92, Rio, Jan. 18. The party had had to be postponed because of the unpredictability of Mitchem’s return date, so she knew it was going to be given — she just didn’t know when, until she arrived at Post 92. “They definitely tricked me,” she said. The tall, slim and fit soldier, 27, has served three deployments, one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, as a member of Military Police battalions. “Basically, we performed ‘high escort’ duty for general officers and dignitaries,” she said. “Basically transportation. Anywhere from one-star to four-star generals, mostly.” Mitchem, who enlisted in the Reserves in 2005, served her first deployment in Baghdad, which lasted a year, and her second two tours in Afghanistan, totaling a year and 9 months, somewhat extended by “demobilizing issues,” she said. Still on active duty, in February, Mitchem will go back to reserve status. “My first deployment exposed me to a different environment, for sure,” she said. “My last deployment was more beneficial, for me. It was an eye-opener in a way.” “My first deployment exposed me to a different environment, for sure. My last deployment was more beneficial, for me. It was an eye-opener in a way.” Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Amber Mitchem It was a time of radical change in the soldier’s personal life — she is separating from her husband of five years, and she made the decision to come
Staff photo by Mary Kemper Army Staff Sgt. Amber Mitchem, second from right, was given a surprise ‘welcome home’ party after coming back from her third deployment overseas at AMVETS Post 92 in Rio Jan. 18. She is joined, from left, by post commander Bruce Hudson; her friend, Army Specialist and combat medic Arielle Tango; post auxiliary president Debra Hudson; and her friend, Army Specialist and combat medic Mary Buchanan. out as gay. “(My husband and I) were married since 2009, but we were only together a year,” she said. “Being in the Army definitely made a difference in the way things went.” But Mitchem’s deployments “helped me get back on track,” she said. “I had my troops to worry about.” In her unit, there were three teams of 10 soldiers each, and Mitchem served as a team leader. “We didn’t have direct contact (with the enemy),” she said. “We were pretty lucky.
But we did have non-tactical armored vehicles, and we made a point of making sure they were constantly up to speed.” Though fortunately none of Mitchem’s battalion lost their lives, “we did lose a bunch of people throughout our deployment,” she said. “Not people we worked with, but people we knew. It was hard.” Now that she’s back in civilian life, Mitchem is working, appropriately for a
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