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CO returns from Afghanistan, welcomed home by coworkers

An Ohio National Guard sergeant found a surprise welcome home when she returned to her job as a corrections officer

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CO Casey Harrell gets a hug from Marcia Bodine as she entered the private prison.

Image Robert K. Yosay/Vindy.com

By C1 Staff

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An Ohio National Guard sergeant found a surprise welcome home when she returned to her job as a corrections officer at the Northeast Ohio Correction Center.

“It’s exciting to know they didn’t forget me,” said Casey R. Harrell.

Harrell returned from a year in Afghanistan to a celebration with friends and family at the W.D. Packard Music Hall in Warren, according to Vindy. Prison officials worked with her mother to host the surprise event.

It was Harrell’s second deployment to the Middle East; in 2009 and 2010, she was stationed in Iraq.

“Casey embodies the qualities we look for in an employee, a co-worker, and a friend,” said Candance Rivera, quality assurance manager at NOCC. “She strives for excellence and takes pride not only in her duty to protect the community as a correctional officer, but her duty to protect America.”