Crime & Safety
Ceremony Held for Middletown Soldier Deployed to Kuwait
U.S. Amy Sergeant First Class Ryan Parmelee will leave for Kuwait next month. A barbeque was held in his honor Sunday at the South Fire District in Middletown.
By Michael Hayes; posted by Cassandra Day.
A Middletown soldier will soon leave the comforts of home for the Middle East.
A send-off ceremony was held Sunday at the South District Firehouse in Middletown for U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Ryan Parmelee who will soon be deployed to Kuwait.
Parmelee, a firefighter and combat medic, has served in the Army for 13 years and has been deployed overseas five previous times. His tours of duty include stops in Germany, Korea and Iraq, where he arrived just two weeks after the initial invasion there a decade ago.
He's currently assigned to the 3rd Medical Command out of Fort Gillem, Georgia, and next month he'll head to Kuwait where he'll be stationed at a medical command center there for the next nine to 18-months.
"It's really an honor to be selected to the position that I'm going to be working in," Parmelee said.
Sunday's barbeque was attended by fellow firefighters, friends and family, including his wife Michelle and two boys, James, 5, and John, 4, as well as his parents, Terry and Jane Parmelee, also of Middlefield.
"I've always been proud of him," Terry Parmelee said of his son.
When asked what he'll miss most, the answer wasn't surprising.
"The kids," Parmelee said.
"The longest I've been separated from the kids is two-and-half-months," he added. "It's kind of status quo for what I'm used to."
Middletown Mayor Dan Drew attended Sunday's send-off ceremony and thanked Parmelee for his sacrifice.
"It's great to be able to honor somebody who devotes his life to serving his country, to serving his community and we wish him the best and we look forward to his safe and healthy return as soon as possible," Drew said.
Drew said recent events in Boston and Texas help put in perspective the effort and dedication of first responders and those in uniform.
"It's easy to take those things for granted and then when you witness a week like we just witnessed in this country you remember how critical they are to the life that we live on a daily basis," he said.
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