MINOT, N.D. - It takes multiple people, working a wide variety of jobs, to make a flood fight successful. While many of our North Dakota National Guardsman are out in the Minot community sandbagging, patrolling levees, controlling traffic, and keeping an eye on the community, there is another group of service members back in the operation center ensuring that these people come off their shifts to warm food, a place to sleep, and that they have no pay issues.
"We track personnel, equipment and phone numbers," said Capt. Ryan Kaufman, the164th Headquarter Headquarters Company's and 164th Foreword Support Company's commander. "And this process ensures that the mission is completed."
Staff Sgt. Rebecca Haider, of the 164th Engineering Battalion in Minot, works in the administrative office handling pay, and keeping track of the paperwork involved for people to in and out process when they come on flood duty or off. Haider said keeping track of these things alleviates some of the stress for soldiers as they are out in the field fighting the flood.
"They trust us and know that their pay will be entered, so they can keep working without worry," said Haider.
The logistics office is extremely active during flooding, as they take care of supply issues and support the units who are supporting their soldiers.
They make the arrangement for vehicles, food and lodging for the individual units as needed.
The quick acceleration of the flood fight in Minot brought many challenges to the logistics team. Such as the increase from 32 soldiers to over 600 in less than 48 hours, said Capt. Dana Schagunn, one of the logistics officers.
The flooding impacted everyone, including one of the primary food vendors.
Many of his employees were in the primary flood zone. "He's doing a fantastic job," said Schagunn. "He got less sleep than anyone here did."
"In spite of his short staff he kept delivering even as we accelerated the number, until we found another vendor for box lunches," said Schagunn.
"We also had excellent support from the Bismarck staff, the turnaround time was fantastic on all requests for support," said Sgt. 1st Class Ralph Yester. Depending on the items needed, the response time from Bismarck was usually under four hours, which greatly helped move along the process.
Once the vehicles are acquired they can seek maintenance and fuel at the Armed Forces Reserve Center's Maintenance Shop.
"The more vehicles that are used, the more issues you may have," said Staff Sgt. Ward Simonton, a mechanic with the 164th Engineering Battalion. "When you have that many vehicles going in and out of water you start to see some general maintenance issues."
The maintenance shop, along with all other aspects of the support staff, is available 24 hours a day to ensure that when a problem arises, the quickest solution possible is found.
The operations center is the office that is in charge of all the missions.
They get their missions from higher headquarters and disperse them to the units. They are a liaison with the city officials and report everything back to Bismarck's joint operations center.
Even the kitchen staff ensures that an accurate record of meals is kept, to ensure accuracy and continuity. With so many soldiers working in different places, there is a lot of food going out during the day.
Though the support staff does not get the instant satisfaction of being able to see a levee being built, or interact with the community you are fighting to save, the support staff gets fulfillment in taking care of National Guard soldiers and airmen. With twenty percent of the 600 service members volunteering to stay on longer to help, this is the group that will make sure all their needs are met today and long term.
| Date Taken: |
06.06.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
06.06.2011 19:12 |
| Story ID: |
71683 |
| Location: |
MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: |
85 |
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0 |
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