Photo caption: On June 11, during the weekly meeting of the 253rd Transportation Company’s Family Support Program at the National Guard Armory in Cape May Courthouse, Nicole Grace (third from right),wife of Pfc. Donald L Grace of the 253rd Transportation Company, was presented a Blue Star Banner.  Standing left to right: Command Sgt. Maj. Richard S. Adkins Jr., David Thompson and James Lewis, both of the Veterans of Foreign Wars; Assemblymen Nick Asselta, 1st Legislative District; Nicole Grace, Rudy Callender, Veterans of Foreign Wars; and Brig. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, The Adjutant General of New Jersey.  A Blue Star Banner was also presented to Lydia Grier, mother of Pfc. Grace.  Blue Star Banners are presented only to those families who have a member currently serving on active duty in the Armed Forces.

The 253rd is one of only three New Jersey Army National Guard units mobilized to participate in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and is currently is attached in support of the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.  With the increasing reliance on the National Guard and reserve, more missions are being assigned to what used to be “part-time” citizen-soldiers.  Three Army Guard units from New Jersey were mobilized for Desert Storm and deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991.  Since then, New Jersey troops have been involved in both Homeland defense and Homeland Security missions, peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and humanitarian assistance missions in Africa and Central America.