U.S. Army Staff Sergeants Ryan Thrift and Joseph Shoemake, recently home from Iraq, were honored by the Clermont County Commissioners July 30.

“It feels really great to be home,” Thrift said at the ceremony. “The attention from the community has been wonderful.”

Sgt. Thrift, 29, has served two tours of duty in Iraq since enlisting in the Army after graduating from Milford High School in 1997, first in 2003 and again in 2007/2008.

He is what is known as a combat engineer in the 478th Engineers, doing route clearance missions, one of the most precarious jobs in the Army today, he said.