Photo By Scott Sturkol | Soldiers with the Army Reserve's 389th Engineer Company of Des Moines, Iowa, work on a...... read more read more
Subscribe
BY CHERYL PHILLIPS
88th Readiness Division Public Affairs
Knocking out both vertical and horizontal projects, Soldiers with the 389th Engineer Company spent their annual training at Fort McCoy working on troop special projects.
The Des Moines, Iowa-based Army Reserve unit tackled building re-siding and road maintenance projects from mid to late June 2022 at Camp Courage on Fort McCoy’s South Post. The projects were offered through the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works (DPW) and DPW Troop Projects Coordinator Larry Morrow.
Staff Sgt. Ethan Cowell, the unit’s construction squad leader and training noncommissioned officer, explained the building project. He said the Soldiers had to remove and replace rotten boards, add waterproofing material, reframe and add new plywood, and cut holes in the eaves to allow more ventilation. Bright green metal siding replaced dingy gray plywood. An electrician also added new exterior light fixtures.
“You can tell how much better the temperature is inside once we cut the holes,” Cowell said. Without the ventilation, it was too hot or too cold inside.
The building project was new for many of the Soldiers. “This is a learning project. We are training them properly as we go so we don’t have any mistakes,” Cowell said.
“It’s all new to me,” Pvt. Daniel Johnson said. He joined the Army Reserve in April 2021 to learn engineering skills to give him better opportunities in the civilian world.
On the other end of the experience spectrum is Staff Sgt. Jason Amy, who’s been in the Army Reserve for 10 years. He joined the Army Reserve because his “entire family has been in the military. It’s a tradition.”
Amy also joined the Army Reserve for the camaraderie and the opportunity to meet people from other places. He said he likes the environment where he can “share knowledge and put it all together…working as a team.”
Although Amy works as an information technology manager for his civilian career, he likes being a 12H engineer supervisor because it’s something he’s “always wanted to learn and do. It’s a good field. It’s something that will never go away, and I can always use my skills at home.”
Replacing the existing plywood with metal siding was a new job for Amy. “It’s interesting learning a new task,” he said.
Other unit members worked on a road maintenance project. Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Morian, horizontal project NCO in charge, outlined the job. A total of 6 inches of gravel was added — first 3 inches that is compacted, then another 3 inches, and more compacting. Then a crown was built to the center. The sides were shaved to permit water runoff into ditches.
389th Engineer Company Commander Capt. William Gentzsch said he likes coming to Fort McCoy because of the “good training opportunities. There’s lots of room here to use for all of our engineer tasks and individual tasks. We can do a lot here in two weeks,” he said.
Learn more about the Army Reserve by visiting https://www.usar.army.mil. Learn more about the 88th Readiness Division by visiting https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/88RSC.
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2022 13:18 |
| Story ID: | 424520 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Hometown: | DES MOINES, IA, US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 389th Engineer Company Soldiers hone skills supporting troop project at Fort McCoy, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT