Subscribe
HUGO, Minn. -- Soldiers of the 851st Vertical Engineer Company spent their annual training period this June constructing rest homes for the Disabled Veterans Rest Camp in Washington County, Minn.
Specifically, the unit's task was to build two new cabins of 1,600 square feet each, and to build them from the ground up.
But Tom Ferris, general manager of the camp, said the 851st didn't stop with the cabins. The unit took on task after task: installing 450 feet of privacy fence, planting 50 trees to provide wind breaks, making the showers wheelchair-accessible, pouring 17 concrete slabs for dumpsters, laying coaxial cable for future television access, repainting just about everything, and much more. And it's all compliant to code.
"They just would not stop," said Ferris.
The rest area now has 14 finished cabins to go along with the 120 RV (recreational vehicle) sites and 35 tenting areas. Ferris estimates that anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 veterans, including spouses and children, pass through the rest camp in a summer. And now, the 851st has helped to expand that capacity.
"I've never seen such courteous Guard members in my life," he said, adding that the 851st got along extremely well with the older veterans currently at the camp. The unit "had the deepest respect, and they showed it to all the veterans out here," said Ferris.
Morale within the unit was sky high, says 1st Sgt. Jeremy L. Frank, the lead NCO on the project. More than 100 of the company's Soldiers were on site during the construction.
"Everybody's busy, and everybody's doing stuff that they like," said Frank.
The 851st is coming off a year-long mobilization, having returned home from Baghdad last July. While deployed, the unit constructed more than 220,000 square feet of building, installed 288,000 feet of wire, and built three combat outposts for Coalition and Iraqi forces.
Here at home, Frank said that this training environment has given the recently deployed Soldiers and the other Soldiers an opportunity to come together and provide a good cross-training opportunity.
"We have 12 block layers today that we did not have on Sunday, because the guys took the time to teach them," said Frank during the construction.
"This is a great project, and I'm really learning a lot," said Spc. Joshua Peterson, halfway through the project. Peterson is an interior electrician with the 851st and a fairly new Soldier. He found the experience at the camp extremely useful.
"I think it's really rewarding that we're helping out veterans that put their time in," he said.
Camp in operation since 1926
Located in May Township in Washington County, near Hugo, the camp was established for veterans in 1926 when the concern of the day was 'shell shock' and the casualty rates from war were much higher. Since then, the camp has served the veteran community continuously for more than 80 years.
It was a new idea to use an annual training period on such a project, according to Ferris, based on what the Guard members were telling him.
The idea was conceived, he said, when a few camp managers met with Maj. Shaun Riffe of the 84th Troop Command, who wanted to reserve an area for a few of his Soldiers. Eventually the National Guard Bureau signed off on the idea, and the unit went ahead with the project.
Everyone associated with the project is happy with the results and is anticipating similar efforts in the future.
And 1st Sgt. Frank said it has been the best training environment he has seen in his 17 years in the Army.
"This is real life," he said. "This is something usable, it's something tangible, it's something people can come back to in years to come."
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2009 18:27 |
| Story ID: | 38095 |
| Location: | HUGO, US |
| Web Views: | 295 |
| Downloads: | 251 |
This work, Annual Training for 851st expands Disabled Veterans Rest Camp, by SPC Thomas Keeler, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
