Photo By Master Sgt. Lynette Hoke | Pfc. Cody Genereux, middle, and other Soldiers of the 851st Vertical Engineer Company...... read more read more
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CROATIA - Sometimes when someone chooses to join the military, things don’t go smoothly for every potential recruit. For Pfc. Cody Genereux his enlistment in the Minnesota Army National Guard didn’t go exactly as planned. His first hope was to become a military police officer.
However, some prerequisites prevented him to become his first choice, a military police officer. However, his second pick a military vertical engineer was a viable option.
“I am going to school to become a police officer, so I was going to enlisted into the guard as a MP,” said Pfc. Genereux, a masonry/carpenter specialist with the 851st Vertical Engineer Company out of Camp Ripley Training Center, Minnesota. “I really enjoy the people in the unit and I really wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Pfc. Genereux and approximately 30 other soldiers from the 851st VEC have recently deployed to Croatia. They will work together with members of the Croatian army to take part in a humanitarian civic assistance project funded by U.S. European Command. The project involves rebuilding and renovating a community center in a village in eastern Croatia.
“It’s been so interesting to be able to get to work with the Croatian Soldiers,” said Pfc. Genereux, native of Crookston, Minnesota.
In conjunction with the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, the American soldiers and soldiers from the Croatian Mechanized Armored Brigade are working long hours together to rebuild the roof on a local community center in a village in Croatia. The working the projects requires a lot of long hours and labor to make sure the roof is completed before the unit has to return home.
Genereux and other soldiers in his unit have gotten the chance to experience local traditions and culture with a recent regional village party.
“I have really enjoyed getting to know the people in the area,” said Pfc. Genereux. “It’s interesting to see what they have went through and yet they have great hospitality and such positive spirits.”
The 851st VEC has completed similar projects before in Croatia. All the soldiers from the project will return to Minnesota by mid-July.
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.02.2015 11:49 |
| Story ID: | 168917 |
| Location: | HR |
| Hometown: | CROOKSTON, MN, US |
| Web Views: | 555 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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