Task Force Bon Voizen leaders meet with local officials

Photo By Master Sgt. Paul Meeker | Louisana Guardsman, Col. Kenneth Donnelly, commander Task Force Bon Voizen, shakes hands with the director-general of the Artibonite police department, April 30, following a meeting in which Donnelly briefed the police chief about task force construction and medical missions occurring in his jurisdiction. New Horizons Haiti 2011 – Task Force Bon Voizen is a Commander, U.S. Southern Command sponsored, U.S. Army South conducted, joint foreign military interaction/humanitarian exercise under the command of the Louisiana National Guard. Task Force Bon Voizen is deploying U.S. military engineers and medical professionals to Haiti for training and to provide humanitarian services. Task Force Bon Voizen will build a school, two medical clinics and one water well/latrine facility, as well as staff three medical clinics and one dental clinic between April 28 and June 25 in the Artibonite Department.  

GONAIVES, HAITI

04.29.2011

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Paul Meeker 

241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

GONAIVES, Haiti - The Task Force Bon Voizen commander, senior enlisted leader, force protection officer-in-charge and military interpreter met with the mayor of Gonaives and the director-general of the Artibonite police department on April 29 to discuss the engineer and medical missions that are underway at selected locations in the vicinity of Gonaives, Artibonite Department.

Louisiana Guardsmen, Col. Kenneth Donnelly, Command Sgt. Maj. Homer Stelly, Cpt Andrew Gremillion and Capt. Wesly Leandre (Fla. National Guard) visited the mayor, Saint Justin Pierrelus, and police chief, Jean Claude Jeune, separately in their offices in Gonaives. Donnelly briefed each on the progress of school and clinic construction already occurring at Upper Poteau and Bardon Marchan, as well as on the status of upcoming medical evaluation and treatment operations in Petite Desdunes, Desdunes, Bocozelle and Saint Marc.

At each meeting Donnelly and his leadership team reviewed the scope of each project and discussed related issues such as project timelines, site security and traffic flow around the sites. In the first meeting the mayor, Pierrelus, asked whether the task force would be able to assume additional projects of importance to his community during its time here. Donnelly noted the requests and said that the tight timeline he was working with was prohibitive, but he stressed that the mayor’s requests were not falling on deaf ears.

“The projects we’re working on now came about because of requests made by your government last year,” Donnelly said. “The concerns you and other officials raise during our time here this summer will most certainly be considered when the next U.S. task force picks up the mission.”

Donnelly thanked each for the support the task force had already received from the civil authorities and citizens in each of the communities and expressed confidence that the positive relationships established would grow stronger as the missions progressed.

New Horizons Haiti 2011 – Task Force Bon Voizen is a Commander, U.S. Southern Command sponsored, U.S. Army South conducted, joint foreign military interaction/humanitarian exercise under the command of the Louisiana National Guard. Task Force Bon Voizen is deploying U.S. military engineers and medical professionals to Haiti for training and to provide humanitarian services. Task Force Bon Voizen will build a school, two medical clinics and one water well/latrine facility, as well as staff three medical clinics and one dental clinic between April 28 and June 25 in the Artibonite Department.

• Date Taken: 04.29.2011
• Date Posted: 05.02.2011 18:26
• Story ID: 69732
• Location: GONAIVES, HT