I am a VERY proud Army Mom! My son called me one afternoon in August of 2005 and asked if he could take me to dinner. He was 20 at the time and had been working several years at a local industry that paid well and had good benefits. When we met to eat I could sense he had something to tell me. He informed me that after much prayerful consideration he had joined the Army, he felt it was his duty to his country. He wanted to go to Iraq so as his MOS he went in as a CAV Scout. Being that he is my only child you can imagine how I felt....fear, anxiety, dread, but also pride. I was proud that my son felt so strongly about his country. Well, he got his wish and within 18 weeks of joining, including his basic training and AIT, he was in Iraq. While there he was affected by the amount of soldiers who never received mail or packages from home. He asked me to stop sending packages to him but to send them to his friend that never received anything. That set me on a mission to provide packages to our deployed soldiers Christmas of 2006. With much support from my community we sent 1,346 packages thru what I named "Operation Christmas Presence". The response from the soldiers who received packages was amazing. My son is making a career of the Army. He is stateside now, stationed in Bell Port, NY where he is a recruiter. He was a good kid, now he is a great man and he is my hero and my inspiration. I nominate my son, Sgt. Keegan Rogers as Small Town Hero!

Submitted by: Tina Bishop