Story by Staff Sgt. Roy Henry
Georgia National Guard
Public Affairs Office

ATLANTA, Monday, May 22, 2006 – Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team led by Brig. Gen. Stewart Rodeheaver, received the USO’s 2006 Patriot Award during the Atlanta Regional Military Affairs Council’s 54th annual Military Affairs Luncheon held, again this year, at the Cobb Galleria.

Brig. Gen. Rodeheaver told an audience of more that 500 military and civilian onlookers that “It’s an honor and a very humbling experience to accept this award on behalf of the 48th. It’s been said that ‘it takes generals to win battles, but it takes Soldiers to win wars, and for 18 months I had the privilege of leading some of the best warriors we have."

“From them, and from me, we say ‘thank you’ from the bottom of our hearts for your support and for honoring us in this way.”

Mike Watson, chairman USO Council of Georgia, said that, historically the Patriot Award is presented to, that single outstanding Georgian and American, who displays extraordinary leadership and unwavering support for the nation.

“The men and women who make up the 48th Brigade Combat Team exemplify as a whole what the Patriot Award stands for, and so we decided that it would be appropriate, considering all the brigade has done, to name the 48th this year’s recipient,” he said.

Watson went on to outline some of the unit’s operational successes during it’s nearly year and a half-long deployment as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also took time to honor the brigade’s 26 fallen who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country.

“How could I not have done so, in light of what they did,” he added.

Out in the audience, Spc. Sean Long, Cpl. Elijah Carroll and Sgt. Kenneth Autry, all members of Griffin’s Troop E, 108th Cavalry, sat quietly as guests of the USO listening to Watson and Rodeheaver. Also out in the audience representing the brigade was Staff Sgt. Jacob Long of Gainesville’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry. It was Company C, that discovered and helped Baby Noor reach the U.S. and receive badly needed medical support in her fight against spina bifida.

Long, Carroll and Autry had been wounded during the deployment when improvised explosive devices struck the vehicles in which they had been riding. All three had returned home before their unit for further medical treatment.

Long, who lives in Lizella; Carroll, who hails from Jackson; and Autry, a Griffin resident, all agreed that the honor bestowed on the 48th deeply touched them. They and Gainesville’s Jacob Long made it clear that honor bestowed this day on the brigade, is a testament to the dedication, professionalism and pride of each and every Soldier who served.

“It’s a bit overwhelming to be here, yet I think I speak for us all when I say, ‘we certainly served because it was our duty, but we also served because we wanted to,’” said Autry.

None of them would have thought to do otherwise, he added.

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48th BCT Earns 2006
USO Patriot Award

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chamblis (far left) gets together with Spc. Sean Long, Sgt. Kenneth Autry and Cpl. Elijah Carrol, all of Troop E, 108th Cavalry, shortly before the Military Affairs Luncheon begins. (Georgia National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Roy Henry)