Photo By Spc. Amanda Treible | Sgt. 1st Class Josh Schoch explains the layout of the gun range the 333rd Engineer...... read more read more
A Soldier shovels gravel as another Soldier smooths it out to form the base of a future range shed. A D9 bulldozer plows up fresh dirt on the future site of a berm.
During annual training, Soldiers from the 333rd Engineer Company in Reading, Pa. worked hard to transform what once was unused farmland into a weapons range for the Douglass Township Police Department, and they’ve done so by overcoming challenges due to COVID-19.
A 50-mile travel restriction put in effect by the Department of Defense is to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. The restriction has forced Army Reserve Soldiers to do virtual battle assembly and annual training for those who are over 50 miles away.
The 333rd EN CO perseveres through the challenges despite of the travel restriction. The noncommissioned officers came up with a plan to allow the Soldiers to sleep outside with their issued equipment and provide meals with the support of the police department.
Pfc. Richard Vannewkirk, from Chichester, Pa., decided to come to annual training despite living beyond 50 miles from his unit.
“I’m a smaller rank and I want to learn more,” Vannewkirk explained. “Very excited to actually do some engineering and dig up dirt and just have a lot of fun as I learn my job.”
Sgt. 1st Class Josh Schoch, the acting 1st Sgt. for the 333rd EN CO, explains this is a good alternative for Soldiers during COVID-19 since training sites are not open.
“The Soldiers love when they get to come out here and actually train,” Schoch explained. “It’s great when they can actually do a mission that they can see an outcome and they don’t have to destroy it later on.”
It is a unique situation for the 333rd EN CO to work on a job site that they don’t have to restore once they are finished. Engineers practice on “engineer playgrounds,” according to Schoch, but they have to return it back to the way they found it.
“We couldn’t go out and train on the bases the way we usually do,” Schoch said. “It’s a prime opportunity for us to move some dirt and help out the local community.”
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2020 11:45 |
| Story ID: | 376005 |
| Location: | BOYERTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 417 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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