Indiana Guard Sends Humvees to Winter Storm Recovery Effort

By Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry
Special to American Forces Press Service

Feb. 2, 2009 - The Indiana National Guard has provided 100 Humvees to the Kentucky National Guard to aid in relief efforts after a crippling winter storm. "We're tickled to death about borrowing these Humvees," Army Sgt. Joe Kidwell said. Kidwell is a generator mechanic with the Kentucky Army National Guard's Company C, 276th Aviation Battalion, with headquarters in Frankfort, Ky.

Kidwell said he and members of his unit will travel door to door to check on people and make sure they are surviving the wintry blast of ice and snow that fell upon the Bluegrass State last week.

"A lot of people are without power – they're saying about 400,000 people here," said Army Spc. John Mitchell, a medic with the Kentucky Guard's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 63rd Aviation Battalion.

Army Sgt. Henry Kinney of the Kentucky Guard said some of the Humvees will be used to transport troops and supplies for the troops, and he is happy about being able to help Kentucky citizens in their time of need.

"This is my job. This is what I signed up to do," he said of his first time being called up for state active duty. Kinney, a 16-year military veteran, has served in the Kentucky Guard for about two years. He has spent the remainder of his service in the Marine Corps and the active-duty Army.

The Kentucky troops arrived here and checked the Humvees to make sure they were in working order. Then it was about a two-hour convoy south to Kentucky's capital of Frankfort and other towns in the state. The troops also signed for Humvees in New Albany, Ind., and Evansville, Ind., and drove them southward.

"It feels good we can help out a neighboring state," said Army Spc. Ronald Smith, a supply clerk here. "I'm sure they'd help us out if we needed it."

Kinney agreed. "We're all Guard family," he said. "One big family."

(Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry serves with the Indiana National Guard.)