By Sgt. 1st Class David Dodds
141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade
FARGO, N.D. - North Dakota National Guard soldiers and airmen have gotten pretty good at fighting floods.
They should. They've got plenty of real-world experience in recent years.
North Dakota Guardsmen have helped local, state and federal agencies battle severe river and overland flooding every year but one since 2009.
In that time, the Guard has committed more than 126,000 work days toward flood responses in Wahpeton, Fargo, Grand Forks, Drayton, Pembina, Bismarck-Mandan, Minot, Burlington and Sawyer. Those are the more familiar battlegrounds in what has seemingly been a nearly two-decade-long campaign against Mother Nature's high-water wrath.
Veteran flood fighters, many still in the Guard, remember other years, too, such as 2006, when the governor activated 50 soldiers to haul dirt and emplace more than 14,000 sandbags to combat spring flooding that year. And during the spring of 1997, more than 2,300 members of the North Dakota National Guard were activated for blizzard and flood duty. At the time, it was the largest in-state activation to date in North Dakota history.
Given all that, North Dakota citizen soldiers and airmen don't necessarily mind a year when a potential record flood fight didn't materialize.
That looks to be the case in 2013, and the break is welcome.
1st Sgt. August W. Honeyman, Bismarck, the top enlisted Soldier in the 815th Engineer Company, based in Edgeley, N.D., is a veteran of several past Guard responses to flooding, as are many Soldiers in his ranks.
On April 27, Honeyman and about 170 members of the 815th were alerted to provide a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) for this year's flood fight in Fargo and surrounding Cass County. When they got the call, projections for near-record flooding, rivaling memorable events in 2009 and 2011, were all but certain.
Three days later and several lowered crest projections, Honeyman says only about 30 Soldiers were on duty, with the rest of the unit - about 140 Soldiers - on standby. Those activated were keeping busy by maintaining equipment, practicing their response drills and waiting. But, after years of working knee-deep in floodwater in the thick of the fight, he said, the troops weren't complaining.
"We'd rather be waiting than wading," he quipped.
But Honeyman was quick to add, if the time came when they were needed, his Soldiers would be well trained, highly motivated and ready.
If called upon by the Cass County Emergency Operation Center, Honeyman and his Soldiers could use their high-water navigating Light Medium Tactical Vehicles to haul sandbags and equipment or rescue anyone stranded by floodwaters. The QRF team comprised a day and night shift, passing the baton at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day.
Sgt. 1st Class Gary D. Anderson, Casselton, N.D., a platoon sergeant with the 815th, used the long days and the lull in flood fighting to build unit cohesion - a challenge for Guard units since they typically only meet once a month and two weeks each summer.
"For me, the biggest thing is that this provides the time and opportunity for our guys to practice working together as a team," Anderson said.
Capt. Alan J. Roehrich, West Fargo, a 12-year member of the North Dakota National Guard, is in his first flood fight this year, but he holds a vital role as liaison officer between the Cass County Emergency Operation Center and the National Guard.
Roehrich serves as Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney's principle contact on all things related to the National Guard in the flood fight. He said that one of the big things learned in past flood responses was the importance of having liaisons for all agencies in the flood fight to communicate with each other quickly and effectively.
"Sheriff Laney is a huge advocate for the liaison system," Roehrich said. "He has seen the necessity of it and how important that role is for him to get the information he needs as well as to get information out."
Roerhrich said there were so many "unknowns" going into this year's flood response compared to years past that it was difficult to provide spot-on projections. This forced the Guard and civil agencies to plan for the worst based upon the best information available and adjust as projections were updated.
With such an unpredictable flood, the North Dakota National Guard performed a delicate balancing act to ensure just enough troops were on hand to protect people's property.
Sgt. Maj. Ken Schuldheisz, in the Tactical Operation Center of the 141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, which supplied the bulk of troops for this year's flood fight, said that, at its peak, there were about 75 soldiers and airmen on flood duty. That compares to 600 soldiers and airmen at one time in eastern North Dakota in 2011, and 2,304 in 2009.
When flood preparation was still ramping up this year, Schuldheisz said, there were 15 traffic control points manned by members of the 191st Military Police Company, allowing smooth navigation for trucks hauling dirt and sand for emergency levees. In floods past, Fargo was dotted with TCPs from one end of the city to the other as high water created a maze of closures and detours.
QRFs were equally sparse this year compared to past years. Schuldheisz said that one QRF location was set up this year in a Cass County workshop near the fairgrounds in West Fargo. In past years, as many as four QRF sites were needed at any time throughout the county.
Another hallmark of past efforts was the joint nature of Guard flood fights, with hundreds of Army Guard soldiers serving shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of Air Guard personnel. Much of the levee patrolling, in the past, was handled by the Air Guard.
Schuldheisz said that plans were in the works to bring members of the Air Guard on duty this year for levee patrols, but it was never needed.
That's not to suggest that there was no Air Guard presence this year in the flood fight.
As usual, Senior Master Sgt. David H. Lipp, a public affairs supervisor for the 119th Wing, was covering this year's effort from the beginning with his signature photography that has made him and fellow public affairs specialist, Master Sgt. Eric A. Johnson, a videographer, nationally-recognized military journalists and award winners.
Lipp and Johnson are known for their stunning visual reflections of natural disasters and the Guard's responses to them, from floods to tornados to hurricanes. The duo, along with their North Dakota Army National Guard Visual Information counterparts, took second place nationally among Department of Defense journalists in 2009 for "Guardians by Air by Land," a video and photo documentary of the 2009 flood fight.
They also were touted as the best DoD journalists in the nation for their coverage of the 2011 North Dakota floods.
"I'm just honored to be able to document the quality work that the North Dakota National Guard does and is known for," Lipp said. "It's great to see people working together and coming together as a community."
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2013 16:31 |
| Story ID: | 106565 |
| Location: | NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Hometown: | FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 38 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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