Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chad Tidwell, Navy Operational Support Center Cheyenne commanding officer, greets Petty Officer 1st Class Regina Schulmeister at the Cheyenne Regional Airport as she returns home after her long trip back from a one-year deployment April 2. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, her Wyoming Highway Patrol coworkers — Schulmeister is a reservist who also works for the Wyoming Highway Patrol — and NOSC-Cheyenne shipmates welcome her back stateside. Schulmeister put her civilian life on hold to serve overseas as a Navy Hospital Corpsman at the Army Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. While there, she was awarded multiple medals for providing care to the wounded warriors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. She was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for her tour of duty, the Army Achievement Medal for being named the 2012 Sailor of the Year at the joint hospital and the Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal for her off-duty hours escorting and chaperoning wounded warriors on morale field trips and activities. She even escorted one wounded warrior to visit the French Resistance Memorial and Sturhoff Camp, the only former Nazi Concentration Camp in France. Upon her return, Schulmeister said it was special having both of her families there welcoming her home: the Wyoming State Patrol and the U.S. Navy. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez)
Petty Officer 1st Class Regina Schulmeister, left, is greeted by Wyo. Gov. Matt Mead; Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chad Tidwell, Navy Operational Support Center Cheyenne commanding officer; and Lt. Kelly Finn, Wyoming Highway Patrol, at Cheyenne Regional Airport as she returns home April 2 from a one-year deployment. Schulmeister, a hospital corpsman reservist attached to Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., spent a year on active duty in Germany. In her civilian life, she is a trooper with the Wyoming Highway Patrol residing in Elk Mountain, Wyo. (U.S. Air Force photo by R.J. Oriez)