Keefer deployed to support Operation Iraqi Freedom

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Army Spec. Lewis C. Keefer is currently deployed in Iraq to support the mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is the official name given to military operations involving members of the U.S. armed forces and coalition forces participating in efforts to free and secure Iraq. Mission objectives focus on force protection, peacekeeping, stabilization, security and counter-insurgency operations as the Iraqi transitional governing bodies assume full sovereign powers to govern the peoples of Iraq.

Members from all branches of the U.S. military and multinational forces are also assisting in rebuilding Iraq's economic and governmental infrastructure, and training and preparing Iraqi military and security forces to assume full authority and responsibility in defending and preserving Iraq's sovereignty and independence as a democracy.

Keefer, a combat medic with more than two years of military service, is normally assigned to the 14th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga.

He is the son of Lewis C. Keefer Sr. of Asheville, Ohio, and Robin M. Crowe of East Liverpool, Ohio.

His wife, Emily, is the daughter of John and Sherry Karnowski of Swanton.

The specialist is a 1999 graduate of Swanton High School.