Air Force Tech. Sgt. Randall K. Stewart is currently deployed to Southwest Asia in the Persian Gulf region to support the mission of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom. The servicemember is normally assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

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.

Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to anti-terrorism military operations involving U.S. troops and allied coalition partners.  Active duty and reserve component members from all branches of the U.S. armed forces have been deployed to support the war against global terrorism outside the borders of the United States. U.S. troops serve in South, Southwest and Central Asia, the Arabian peninsula, the Horn of Africa, islands in the Pacific and Europe.

Stewart is an aircraft engine manager with 17 years of military service.

He is the son of Raymond and Vicki Stewart of Guyton. His wife, Charity, is the daughter of Laura Conley of Savannah.

The sergeant received a bachelor’s degree in 2006 from St. Leo University, Fla.