Recently, Senator Young attended a Welcome Home Reception for Corporal Bryen Barden and presented him with a proclamation that honored him for his service with the United States Marine Corps.

Corporal Barden signed up for the Marine Corps Delayed Entry Program while he was a junior in high school. Less than a month after graduating from Falconer Central School with an Advanced Regents Diploma, he joined the United States Marine Corps.

After completing Recruit Training at Parris Island, South Carolina and the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Corporal Bryen Barden was stationed in Newport News, Virginia and was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Yokosuka, Japan. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on April 1, 2009, and then to Corporal on February 1, 2010.

Currently, Corporal Barden is stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California, and recently returned from a deployment to Musa Qala, Afghanistan.

I’d like to thank Corporal Barden and all members of the military who courageously serve our country.