La. Guard command group and distinguished guest conduct tour of community project sites

By Capt. Peter Drasutis, Louisiana National Guard Public Affairs Office

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Maj. Gen. Keith Waddell, the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, and Command Sgt. Maj. Clifford Ockman, the command senior enlisted leader of the Louisiana National Guard, along with members of the Louisiana National Guard command staff and honored guest Paul Mainieri, former baseball coach for the Louisiana State University Tigers, visited with Soldiers from the 922nd Engineer Vertical Construction Company, 528th Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade at Innovative Readiness Training sites in Lincoln, Grant and Vermilion Parishes, Louisiana, July 18.

The IRT projects being conducted across Louisiana are intended to build and strengthen partnerships between local communities and the Louisiana National Guard while simultaneously improving its engineer readiness and capabilities posture.

The project sites visited during the leadership tour included a land clearing operation of forty-five acres for green space to be used by students at Grambling State University, berm construction for a public shooting range in Grant Parish and construction of a three-story firefighter training tower for Vermillion Parish firefighters in Abbeville, Louisiana.

The first stop of the tour was GSU in Lincoln Parish where Rick Gallot, GSU’s president, explained how the coordination between the Louisiana Governor’s office, the LANG and parish representatives for utilizing LANG assets in community projects benefits the citizens of Louisiana and the LANG.

“This is truly a win-win situation for the state of Louisiana by having the LANG partner with Grambling State University. The Guard engineers get the training experience and opportunity to earn specific occupational licenses they need, and we’re able to gain improvements to the campus without having to pass additional costs to our students,” said Gallot.

Sheriff Steven McCain, of Grant Parish, reiterated Gallot’s sentiment when describing the successes that interagency cooperation has brought to Grant Parish citizens through the second project site along the trip, a berm construction for the public firing range in Dry Prong, Louisiana.

“The Grant Parish Police Jury, who’s been at the forefront of this project, had the idea to provide the first ever public firing range in our rural community where we have a long history of involvement with hunting activities; however, we knew that we couldn’t do this by ourselves. So, we reached out to the LANG, and it’s been a tremendous partnership for the last year and a half,” said McCain. “We’re glad to have a place where our children and grandchildren can sight in their rifles while learning to use their weapons safely, have a local facility for our law enforcement agents to certify with their weapons and provide a space where the children of our community can participate in activities such as 4H shooting sports and hunter safety certification.”

The final stop on the tour for LANG leadership and Mainieri was the firefighter tower project site in Abbeville, parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana where Abbeville Mayor Roslyn White directed her appreciation to Maj. Gen. Waddell and Col. Scott Slaven, 225th Engineer Brigade commander, for the work being done by the LANG engineers in her community.

“I was honored to welcome Maj. Gen. Waddell, Col. Slaven and company on their recent visit to Abbeville and thank them for the National Guard’s commitment to our area. When leaders of multiple agencies work together to accomplish a common goal, the entire community wins,” affirmed White.

On site of the firefighter training tower construction project was Keith Roy, Vermilion Parish administrator, who, in his statement regarding the project, alluded to the true purpose of the Guard leadership’s tour, appreciation for the Soldiers of the 922nd EVCC in their tireless perseverance and professionalism while braving the relentless Louisiana summer heat to execute their mission.

“It’s amazing that, no matter how hot it gets, they keep working. They never stop. They’ve run into a few obstacles, but they’ve overcome them all,” expressed Roy. “I’d guess it has a lot to do with the quality of the Soldiers and their leadership. The parish is more than appreciative. In the end, we just want to say thank you to the great men and women that are out here actually doing the work.”

As an acknowledgement of their hard work and to convey the support of their state for the Soldiers at each of the IRT project sites, Waddell invited former baseball coach for the Louisiana State University Tigers and local celebrity Paul Mainieri, who was grateful for the opportunity to visit with the Soldiers. Several Guard engineers took advantage of the chance to pose for photos with and have their hard-hats signed by Mainieri.

“Leadership means nothing if you don’t have tremendous people doing the job. What you guys and girls are doing is so critical to making our community, state and country great,” asserted Mainieri.

Waddell paid particular attention to validate the support and trust that citizens and governance of Louisiana have in its Soldiers at each of the IRT sites. Additionally, he provided guidance and words of motivation for the challenges inherent to the LANG mission.

“You are all heroes, every one of you. A lot of times, I get to go see our legislators, interact with Gov. Edwards [John Bel Edwards, Governor of Louisiana] and with our elected officials that are in Washington, D.C., and they all say the same thing about how great you all are. So, I carry that message back to you today to tell you that, at the highest levels, they see and recognize the great job that you do,” affirmed Waddell.