Rep. Perry is a lieutenant colonel in the PA National Guard and commanded the 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion on a year-long mission in Iraq. His wife Christy gave birth to their first child, a daughter, during his deployment. Perry suspended his duties as a member of the State House to lead Task Force Diablo in southern Iraq. At first, the unit was supposed to be deployed to an area north of Baghdad but their mission changed. Instead, they supported efforts throughout southern Iraq in an area he compares in size to the state of Georgia. Lt. Col. Perry flew 44 combat missions. "The environmental conditions were insufferable," he noted. "I would describe the experience in Iraq as drudgery and drama: Drudgery were the hours spent just doing normal kinds of things but then there was drama. And that was anything from aircraft being fired upon, accidents and mishaps with aircraft, sandstorms and weather incidents. It was nothing like the normal experience you'd have here in Central Pennsylvania."

When Perry’s team came home in January 2010, it marked the end of the largest combat deployment for the Guard since World War II and the largest-ever deployment of its aviators. "None of the guys in my unit were killed. We had rocket attacks but none of the rockets they sent over killed anyone in my command," he was proud and thankful to note. His list of awards and commendations is impressive: the Master Army Aviator Badge, The Bronze Star, The Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Army Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Army Achievement Medal with 2 bronze oak leaf cluster, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with silver oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal with bronze service star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with silver hour glass and M device, Army Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon with 4 device, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, PA 20 Year Medal, MG T.R. White Medal, and the Gen. T.J. Stewart Medal. He also has received the honorable orders of Saint Michael, and Saint George.

Upon Perry's return, colleagues in the State House gave him a standing ovation. He gained headlines again this week with his bill to expand the so-called Castle Doctrine. The House Judiciary Committee approved his bill to give law-abiding gun owners the right to use lethal force to defend themselves against violent criminals outside their homes, businesses, autos or in state parks. It also gives protection against civil liability when lawful force is used in self defense. “This is tipping the scale of presumption in the law-abiding’s favor as opposed to the non-law abiding’s,” Perry testified at the committee hearing. Under current state law, you may use deadly force to protect yourself in your own home. This bill would give gun owners the specific right to protect themselves and their families in any location.

Rep. Nick Miccarelli returned to service in the state House of Representatives in December 2009 after a year-long deployment in Iraq. He served as a helicopter door gunner with the 1-150th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Basrah, Iraq. Miccarelli was no stranger to combat in a war zone. This tour marked his third overseas deployment. In 2003, he served as an infantryman with NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. In 2006, he landed in Ramadi where he was an adviser to the Iraqi army. You might recall that during that time Ramadi was one of the hotbeds for insurgent attacks on military and civilian targets. "A member of my team, my partner, was killed in an attack on May 3, 2006," Miccarelli recalled. "We had spent 12 days on a combat outpost. We had gone back to camp and I stayed to do tasks on base. He went back out there. He had a wife and three kids. That really affected me. I knew if I had died, my parents would have been devastated, but I'm a single guy with no kids."

Within two days of being released from active duty last December, Miccarelli was back in Harrisburg voting on legislation. “You don’t come back and rest on your laurels,” he told Kathleen Carey of the Delaware County Times.

Miccarelli, a staff sergeant in the Army National Guard, has been awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Commendation Medal. He wears the CI badge on his lapel, as a reminder of what he has endured and of the sacrifices his comrades are making around the world. "A lot of guys wear their (House of Representatives) member pins and I wear the Combat Infantryman Badge because, sitting on the House floor, it's a bit of a reminder to me of the stakes a lot of people are willing to put up for our country," Miccarelli explained. "Political expediency goes out the window when you think of what guys went through over there."

Neither Miccarelli nor Perry was permitted under U.S. Department of Defense rules to vote on legislation during their deployments, nor to articulate where they stand on political and policy issues. Back in civilian life, these citizen-soldiers are eager to talk politics and enact policy, they say, to make America stronger and more secure.

Also this week on Smart Talk, producer Mark Wallace brings us the story of efforts to identify and restore the graves of the United States Colored Troop (USCT), the African-American soldiers who fought under the Union flag in the Civil War. Midland Cemetery in Swatara Township holds its annual memorial service on May 29 at 1 p.m. That event serves as the kick-off to a statewide effort to find and restore the USCT’s graves. Some of those soldiers are buried in Midland Cemetery. The memorial service is part of a months-long tribute to the United States Colored Troops that culminates in the Reenactment of the Grand Review of the USCT in Harrisburg on Nov. 6, 2010. At the end of the Civil War, African-American troops who fought with the Union Army were not permitted to march with white troops in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. in May 1865. Instead, they marched six months later in a special ceremony in Harrisburg.

If you are a descendant of the USCT and would like more information about the commemoration events, you may contact either the Friends of Midland at 717-939-0242, or the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development at 1-800-VISIT-PA.

And to cap our tribute to the troops, we’ll delve into efforts by a local Lebanon boy to honor the midstate’s most famous World War II veteran - Major Dick Winters. In recent years, Winters has gained acclaim as the leader of the 101st Airborne Division’s Easy Company, the so-called Band of Brothers, who landed in Normandy on D-Day and swept to victory through Europe. A documentary filmmaker wants to build a statue in Winters’ likeness in Saint Marie-du-Mont, France, at a cost of about $400,000. That plan sparked the interest of 11-year-old Jordan Brown, a student at South Lebanon Elementary School. He is selling olive green bracelets embossed with Winters’ best-known line: Hang Tough. At $1 apiece, he’s hoping to raise $100,000 for the statue project.

Jordan’s mom, Yasmin, explains to WITF-FM Morning Edition anchor Tim Lambert, "It means so much to a lot of people. I mean, I've even had people already that either themselves or someone they know are battling cancer and they've wanted to get the wristband for that reason. So, I think it's got a great message that not only relates back to Major Winters, but also it is just as valuable and true today."

We hope you’ll join us to honor the troops on Smart Talk, Friday at 8:30.

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