Army National Guard Spec. Ryan C. Kohlhepp has returned to the U.S. after being deployed overseas at a forward operating base in support 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.

Kohlhepp is a military police member of the 772nd Military Police Company, based in Taunton, Mass. He has served in the military for five years.

He is the son of Cheryl H. Kohlhepp of Orangeburg. The specialist is a 2001 graduate of Edisto High School in Cordova and earned a bachelor’s degree in 2006 from Charleston Southern University.

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