Virginia Guard home after helping Vermont reopen 400 miles of roads

By Cotton Puryear
Virginia National Guard

BLACKSTONE, Va. (10/3/11) –Virginia National Guard Soldiers supporting tropical storm recovery operations in Vermont completed their last mission there Sept. 27 and have since returned home.

About 20 Soldiers and six 20-ton dump trucks started hauling operations earlier last month to assist with clean-up efforts in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Most of the personnel and all of the dump trucks were provided by the 157th Engineer Platoon while the 3647th Maintenance Company provided a maintenance team and support vehicle.

 While in Vermont, The Virginia Guard members transported 781 dump-truck loads for a total of 8,860 cubic yards of rock and fill dirt. They drove more than 25,600 miles and logged in nearly 2,900 hours of training time on the equipment.

The Virginia Guard augmented the 133rd Engineer Battalion from the Maine Army National Guard and worked directly for the Vermont Agency of Transportation in coordination with a civilian contractor.

According to the VAT, 450 miles of Vermont’s 2,700 miles of state highway were closed the day after Hurricane Irene hit. State road crews, contractors and National Guard personnel from six different states worked nearly 16-hour days for eleven days and opened all but 57 miles of state highways.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin praised the work of everyone involved and called opening the road network “an extraordinary achievement.”

The experience in Vermont was positive for the Virginia Soldiers, according to Facebook posts.

“From the first day and the first plate of brownies, the local community has been so supportive, thankful and generous that we were all in awe,” wrote Army Sgt. Steven Moore in a post on the Vermont Rutland Herald Facebook Page.

“We are accustomed to southern hospitality, but the people of Vermont have taken it to a new level,” he added to his post. “Thank you, Vermont, for showing how people can pull together in times of need. I can only hope that if this ever happens in Virginia, or anywhere else in this great country, the people would act the same way.”

Another Facebook user in Vermont responded to Moore’s post with: “I know that Vermont appreciates all that the National Guard members do for us,” wrote Kathi Sheehan Stern. “We thank them for being here in our time of need.”

Vermont’s need for assistance was channeled through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Long, Jr., the adjutant general of Virginia, approved the request to provide the personnel and equipment.

“This is exactly how the Emergency Management Assistance Compact system is supposed to work,” Long said. “When a state needs additional capability to assist in a time of need, they can reach out to other states to provide that capability. We are glad to be able to assist the citizens of Vermont with their clean-up effort. I am sure they would do the same thing for us.”