was doing something for my community and my country’|[6/05/05]

JACKSON – Charles Lawrence Johnson III is 29. He lives in Vicksburg and working toward a political science degree, taking classes at Hinds Community College.

He is also a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves. He spent a year on the Iraq-Kuwait border with the 386th Transportation Company.

“It was a way for me to get ahead,” he said of his decision to join the U.S. Army Reserves. “It gave me a purpose. It gave me a feeling that I was doing something for my community and my country.”

Johnson was one of 43 members of the unit honored at Saturday’s Welcome Home Warrior Citizen ceremony at Jackson State University.

Soldiers from the 3rd Personnel Command and the 365th Support Battalion, both of Jackson, were also honored.

Each soldier was given an encased American flag, lapel pin, commemorative coin and a Welcome Home Warrior Citizen flag for serving in and supporting the War on Terror.

Johnson said he has been criticized for his decision to join the Army, but the criticisms don’t wash.

“My job is to haul fuel, equipment and personnel,” he said. “If my life is threatened, I have to take the appropriate steps to ensure I get home.

“Whether you agree or disagree with the military’s position overseas, without soldiers, you wouldn’t have the right to disagree, openly at least.”

Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck was a featured speaker at Saturday morning’s ceremony and said she was thrilled to be there.

“You are our true heroes,” she told the soldiers and about 150 of their friends and family members. “You have answered our nation’s call, just as you have for more than 200 years.”

Tuck, who participated in the December send-off ceremony, said welcoming soldiers home and honoring them was much better than saying goodbye.

She said soldiers and their families are facing a loss of income, sometimes up to 40 percent. Families have lost businesses, farms, homes and vehicles because one of the primary wage earners are called to duty.

She made a point of pointing out that the Mississippi Military Family Relief Fund has been passed by the Legislature and awaits Gov. Haley Barbour’s signature. It would create grants funded by taxpayer donations to help military families financially.

Staff Sgt. Linda Taylor is a telephone operator at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a member of the 386th Transportation Company.

She said she knows many soldiers who have come back with medical problems or to financial hardship, or both, and that this is a good idea – in theory.

“But first I want to see it implemented. First, I want to see it work.”