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Each year the Nebraska State Fair honors veterans from throughout the state, thanking them for their service to the country.

This year, Chris Marcello of Grand Island will serve as grand marshal for the parade on Sept. 4, a day set aside as the State Fairs Salute to Our Veterans Celebration.

Marcello will be a guest of the State Fair that day. Along with leading the parade, there will be a reception in his honor. The parade is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

I know quite a few people who work at the Veterans Administration and they nominated me for this honor, Marcello said.

Marcello joined the Nebraska National Guard on March 5, 1997. He was deployed to Bosnia (SFOR13, stabilization or security force) in 2003, then to Ar-Ramadi (or Ramadi), Iraq, in 2005-2006.

He was also part of mobilized hurricane relief for hurricanes Gustav and Ike. He was later deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2010-11.

Marcello lives in Grand Island with his wife and four children. He works as a Grand Island police officer. He has worked for the Grand Island Police Department for four years.

Marcello is still a member of the National Guard with the Alpha Troop 1-134th Cavalry out of Hastings. He has the rank of the first sergeant.

I have always been in the cavalry unit in the state, he said.

While attending high school in Blue Hill, Marcello said, he joined the National Guard when he was a junior.

I went to basic training in the summer between my junior year and senior years in high school, he said. I finished the second half the summer after my senior year before I went to college.

His motivation to join the National Guard was to help him attend college. He attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he majored in criminal justice, with a psychology minor.

Marcello said he was motivated to pursue a career in law enforcement because of a DARE officer he knew when he was a high school student.

He was a pretty good guy, he said. He was a State Patrolman. I liked the way he did things and I always looked up to him. I knew I wanted to be a police officer.

After college, Marcello said, he held a number of odd jobs between deployments with the National Guard. I went overseas and then would come back and get a job, he said.

In between deployments, Marcello applied to join various law enforcement departments in the state. But because his unit was repeatedly deployed, it made it hard for him to secure a job in law enforcement.

It would be hard to hire somebody if they know they would be leaving again, he said.

It was when he was living in Omaha that Marcello decided to apply for employment with the Grand Island Police Department.

A friend of mine, who I was in the Army with, applied over here (Grand Island) and got hired, Marcello said. He told me to try it out. I did and I got hired.

When he is not working as a police officer or training with the National Guard, Marcello is the troop leader for his sons Cub Scout Troop 114 in Grand Island. We just got finished with summer camp, he said.

Marcello and his wife, Tami, have two sons and two daughters who range from 2 to 9 years old.

Marcello is a night patrol officer with the Police Department. He said night patrol is challenging, but he has learned to shut it off, go home and be with my family.

For Marcello whether its serving in the National Guard or working as a police officer its all about serving the people.

I know that sounds cliche or corny, but when you go home after a hard days work, you actually did something, he said. You made a difference.

Even though police work sometimes is not the most friendly of environments when dealing with the public, Marcello said there is always going to be that one person who you helped out. That is important for me.

Read the original:
Iraq vet to lead fair parade - Grand Island Independent