Rose spends holidays with soldiers in Kuwait

BAY RIDGE – U.S. Rep. Max Rose, an Army veteran, spent a portion of the holiday season visiting soldiers at a military base in Kuwait as part of an eight-member bipartisan delegation of House members looking to show support for the servicemembers far from home.

Rose, a Democrat representing Bay Ridge, Southwest Brooklyn and Staten Island, is a member of the House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs and Homeland Security.

Rose and his colleagues visited Camp Arifjan, a key military base that supports operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, during a tour of the Middle East. The lawmakers talked with military service members, received briefings from military leaders and met with diplomatic and economic personnel, according to Rose’s office.

The delegation departed Andrews Air Force Base on the morning of Dec. 22 and returned to the U.S. on Dec. 27, according to Rose’s office. The congress member’s wife, Leigh Rose, accompanied her husband on the trip.

While in Kuwait, the House members met with diplomatic staff at the U.S. embassy and received briefings on American foreign policy in the country. They were expected to travel extensively throughout the country and visit several regions.

Rose, who served in the war in Afghanistan and earned a Purple Heart after suffering a serious head wound from an improvised explosive device in 2013, said he was honored to visit the troops.

“For so many soldiers on their fifth, sixth, or even tenth deployment, missing the holidays is the new normal, but it’s never easy for them or their family. I’m honored to be able to join some brave men and women serving abroad this Christmas and Hanukkah to thank them for the sacrifices they’re making for our country,” Rose said.

Rose asked the public to keep military service members in their thoughts and prayers, particularly during the holiday season.

“We still have soldiers all over the world serving and putting their lives on the line, and families celebrating the holidays without their loved ones. Let’s keep them, and especially those of Sgt. 1st Class Michael Goble who was killed in Afghanistan this week, in our prayers,” Rose said.

Goble, who was from New Jersey, was killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan on Dec. 23. His remains were returned to the U.S. on Christmas Day.