Army Spec. Kimmberly T. Thiel currently deployed to Iraq to support the mission of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is the official name given to military operations involving members of the U.S. Armed Forces and coalition forces participating in efforts to free and secure Iraq. Mission objectives focus on force protection, peacekeeping, stabilization, security, and counter-insurgency operations as the Iraqi transitional governing bodies assume full sovereign powers to govern the people of Iraq.

Thiel, a health care specialist (combat medic) deployed with the 224th Area Support Medical Company. She has served in the military for six years.

She is the daughter of Cliff and Jann Thiel of Country Club Court, Lanark, Ill., and sister of Andrew Thiel of Whitewater.

The specialist graduated in 1998 from Stillman Valley High School, Ill., and received a bachelor’s degree in 2008 from Illinois State University, Normal, Ill.