Friends and family welcomed the 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment (MPAD) home on Tuesday in Jefferson City after a nine month tour in Afghanistan. The MPAD produced more than 1,200 print, video and photo products gaining a reach of more than 8.4 million Facebooks and airing on more than 142 media outlets worldwide.
The detachment’s primary focus was to train, advise and assist the 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army.
“It has been an honor to serve with such an excellent unit,” said detachment commander Maj. Frank Analla. “Our products received recognition on Department of Defense websites, where major news networks like CNN, NBC and Fox pull photos and video for their own stories and broadcasts.”
The unit received multiple awards throughout its deployment including one Purple Heart, two Combat Action Badges and three Bronze Stars.
More important than the awards were the stories that the MPAD was able to tell, according to U.S. Army Cpl Clay Beyersdorfer.
“People look at a soldier and see a uniform, but who is the person behind the uniform,” Beyersdorfer said. “What gets them up in the morning? What gets them strong? What got them through the deployment? Questions like that. And you come to find out that the army is made up of incredible people.”
This was the first and last deployment for Sgt. Antony Lee. “I learned a lot about how the Army works on an active duty level,” Lee said. “It was just a very good experience. I’m glad to have had it.”
The 70th MPAD consists of 20 Soldiers and is a subordinate unit of the Jefferson City-based 229th Special Troops Battalion.