Tribute to Our Military

Normand is home for 35 days on leave from Iraq. The writing on the certificate under the flag he is holding is hard to read in the photo. It says:

"Let it be known that this Flag of the United States of America was flown over the American Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq on the Third Day of February, Two Thousand and Sixteen. It is with great pleasure, pride and respect that this flag was flown for Audrey Agli & Liz Smith."

United States Marine Corps
Marine Security Guard Detachment
American Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq

Norm, Audrey's son that helps capture the animals on the farm when they need their shots or Vet treatment. We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of the Veterans that are away from home this Holiday Season. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your families and may God Bless you all!!!

"If I were to go back to June 1979 I would still sign on dotted line."

Audrey

Audrey and her son Normand

The Agli family takes patriotism very seriously. Co-founder Audrey Agli and her son Normand both have military backgrounds. Audrey retired from the Air Force National Guard in June 2012 after 33 years and Normand serves actively in the Army National Guard as a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Audrey joined the 143rd Air National Guard in Quonset, Rhode Island in June 1979 and retired in June 2012 after 33 years of service, most recently serving as a technical sargeant at the 439th Maintenance Squadron, Springfield, MA. Audrey was mobilized for active duty during Operation Desert Storm and during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

"I joined the service in June 1979 because I wanted to give back to the country I love. I learned that I could join the Guard for three years and only be away from my family for a few months to go to school, then 2 weeks a year and one weekend a month, which was perfect. I did my three years and liked it so I did another and another and so on. The military has been an extended family for me through the good times and the bad. If I were to go back to June 1979 I would still sign on dotted line."

Below are photos from Audrey's retirement ceremony at Westover Airforce Base, Springfield, MA in June 2012:

Audrey with Uncle Sam, star of the commercial Ariel was in on June 25th.

Normand:

Normand is a Sargeant in the United States Army National Guard with the 1/182nd Infantry at Camp Fogarty in Rhode Island.

"The military is a brotherhood unlike anything I have experienced in civilian life. You become very close-your lives depend on each other. We are family."

Normand has served in two branches of the military. He joined the Marines in 1992 just out of high school. Normand has a penchant for doing things in dramatic fashion so understandably his first assignment was working with C5 explosives. Following his service with the Marines he took a short leave and is now with the Rhode Island Army National Guard 1/182nd Infantry Unit.

Deployments:
Normand served on the front lines in Iraq in 2006. His unit's duties included providing support to convoys in Anbar Province and other security tasks.

Normand was on deployment to Afghanistan from March 2011-March 2012.

Norm in Afghanistan:

Sgt. Normand Gagnon, team leader attached to Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team, scans the mountainside for enemy activity while on a patrol in Alingar district July 13. Laghman PRT's mission was to meet with the Alingar district leaders then perform a final inspection on two construction projects in the area. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Ryan Crane)

Norm receiving a service commendation in Afghanistan

Training for Afghanistan in Indiana, spring 2011

The Star-Spangled Banner

Lyrics by Francis Scott Key

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream;
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream;
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust"
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!