Army Staff Sgt. Derek E. Stivers, son of Mary Elliot of Kenmore, has returned to Fort Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska after being deployed to Afghanistan for one year. The soldier is one of 3,500 members of the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division stationed at Fort Richardson. Airborne combat team members included soldiers assigned to one of six battalions and regiments of the 25th Infantry Division.

The airborne brigade served in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan, which included the Paktya, Paktika and Khost. Some of the challenges the brigade soldiers faced included poverty, unemployment, security and management of natural resources and government institutions. Soldiers improved roads, provided vocational training in construction and civics, improved and re-opened 29 schools, remodeled six medical clinics and improved three district courthouses.

While deployed in Afghanistan, he was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal, and the Combat Action Badge.

Stivers, a fire support sergeant with eight years of military service, is regularly assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment.