By Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry
Indiana National Guard
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. - The Kentucky National Guard responded with 4,600 troops to help the relief effort of the winter storm damage the state received in late January. To help that relief effort, the Hoosier Guard sent 100 Humvees to the Bluegrass state.
"Were tickled to death about borrowing these Humvees," said Sgt. Joe Kidwell of Corbin, Ky. Kidwell is a generator mechanic with the Kentucky Army National Guard unit Company C, 276th Aviation Battalion headquartered in Frankfort, Ky.
According to Kidwell, he and members of his unit will travel door to door and house to house to check 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," said another Kentucky Guard Soldier, Spc. John Mitchell of Mount Vernon, Ky. "They're saying around 400,000 people," said Mitchell, a medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 63rd Aviation Battalion.
According to Kentucky Army National Guard Sgt. Henry Kinney, some of the Humvees will be used to transport troops and supplies for the troops. Kinney of Florence, Ky. 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. The remainder was spent in the Marines and active-duty Army.
The Kentucky troops arrived here via airplanes and helicopters. They then checked the Humvees to make sure they were in working order - fluids topped off, air in the tires, headlights working, etc. Then it was about a two-hour convoy south to Frankfort and other Kentucky towns. 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 Spc. Ronald Smith, a Camp Atterbury supply clerk from Franklin, Ind. "I'm sure they'd help us out if we needed it."
"We're all Guard family," said Kinney. "One big family."