By MELANIE POOLE / Special to the Reporter

The Veteran of the Week is sponsored by the National Veterans Shrine and Register of Honor at the American Village — honoring America’s veterans and telling the stories of their service and sacrifice for the cause of liberty.

“The American Village is pleased to join the Shelby County Reporter in recognizing Timothy Alan Billingsley as Veteran of the Week,” American Village founder and CEO Tom Walker said. “He is representative of the hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who have risked it all for the sake of our country and its freedom. To all veterans we owe a debt we can never fully repay.”

Visit the website, Veteransregisterofhonor.com, today and add your loved ones to the Register of Honor. Help us honor, recognize, respect and remember our country’s veterans.

Here are highlights about this week’s Veteran of the Week. Timothy Alan Billingsley.

Timothy was born in Madison County, AL in 1967, but now calls Columbiana home. He entered service at Parris Island, SC in May 1987, and served in the USMC Reserves until 1993. He participated in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, missing his first wedding anniversary, but came home in time for the birth of his first child. He transferred in April 1993 to active duty Army, serving in Mogadishu, Somalia as a machine gun operator in support of Task Force Ranger QRF.

Timothy left active duty in April 1996 and transferred to the Alabama National Guard 167^th Infantry Battalion, 4^th Alabama. In August 2000, he transferred once more to participate in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Port Security Officer program. He was mobilized in September 2001 for Operation Noble Eagle and in March 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2004 he transferred back to the Alabama National Guard to finish his career as an Infantry Squad Leader with Bravo Company, 167^th Infantry. He volunteered for service and deployment to Afghanistan as an embedded team trainer in May 2007.

In His Own Words: “It was my distinct honor to have served my country in both war and peace. I missed my family terribly during each deployment, but that just made coming home that much sweeter. God richly blessed my life, my cup runeth over.”