Army Spec. Matthew A. Keen has returned to the 84th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy), Fort Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska, after being deployed overseas at a forward operating base to serve 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 also are 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.

Keen, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, has five years of military experience.

He is the son of Deborah Papp of Lampasas and a 2002 graduate of Lampasas High School.