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Sierra View Elementary Welcomes Home Soldier
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Sierra View students from Conney Frazees sixth grade class and Linda Kraus previous year second grade class, gathered recently to meet and thank Specialist Evan Bachelder for his service as he made a visit to the campus.

A hero’s welcome was waiting at Sierra View Elementary School for Army Specialist Evan Bachelder earlier this month. The soldier is also son-in-law to second grade teacher Linda Kraus and the school staff treated him to a Welcome Home reception, which was followed by a visit with some students.

Specialist Bachelder spent seven months in Kandahar, Afghanistan during 2014. While there he worked as a Crew Chief on Blackhawk helicopters, as well as maintained aircraft.

Prior to his 2014 Afghanistan deployment, Bachelder visited Kraus’ second grade classroom and spoke with the students. As a result the class wrote e-mails to the soldier on a regular basis. During their recent reunion, they were also joined by Conney Frazee’s sixth grade class, who had completed artwork for the soldier on Veteran’s Day.

Army Specialist Bachelder spent a bit of time visiting with the students, sharing photos from his travels and fielding questions. He shared with the students his reason for enlisting, the sacrifice it takes to serve and seriousness of what that means. He also reminded students that war is not “cool” and that lives are sometimes lost by people fighting for their country.

Bachelder was equally happy to discuss with students interested in military service, what that means and how to go about it.

He will now be stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska through October 2016.