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Guard contemplates New Madrid disaster

September 28, 2009 By

National Guard officials from eight states have contemplated disaster and hope that by doing so they have a better handle on how to react should the New Madrid fault rupture.

Col_Hagler_Gen_Danner,jpg.jpg The Missouri National Guard hosted a conference to coordinate the emergency response of eight states should the New Madrid earthquake actually strike. The conference considered the damage an earthquake the magnitude of 6.5 would do in southeast Missouri and beyond. Public Affairs Representative for the 70th Troop Command of the Missouri National Guard, Bill Phelan, says the predictions are scary.

"According to the experts who were at this conference, the damage from a 6.5 magnitude or greater earthquake along the New Madrid fault would be a disaster of such magnitude that it would take ten years to recover from," says Phelan.

Phelan says those gathered at the conference in St. Louis looked at Karina as a model of what to expect.

"Katrina was a catastrophe that is similar in scope to what we think would happen if there was a catastrophic earthquake along the New Madrid fault," Phelan says.

The conference allowed the eight states to assess their readiness, to better understand what they will need should disaster strike. The eight states which participated were Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. The meeting was billed as the first New Madrid Seismic Zone Workshop. It was held at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis.

Download/listen Brent Martin report (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation Tagged With: ,

John and Jessica Byrd serving together in Afghanistan

September 8, 2009 By

Many Missouri National Guardsmen will be leaving their spouses behind as they deploy to Afghanistan, but one couple will be going together. John and Jessica Byrd joined the Army, they said, to see the world. Now they’ll get to see it together. The Byrds met after they enlisted. They say this will be their first trip to the Middle East.

John and Jessica Byrd The Byrds say even though they’re serving in the Middle East together, they’ll still be leaving loved ones behind. They’re already prepared to check in with the moms as often as they can and have set up a Skype account to talk to their parents via video. However, they feel blessed, they say, to be able to go together.

They’re serving with the Missouri National Guard’s Agricultural Development Team to continue working with farmers in Afghanistan. The mission is to help them grow viable crops, build irrigation systems, store food and more so that farmers there no longer have to rely on growing poppies to support the illegal opium trade.

About 60 guardsmen are on this mission, which is headed to Camp Atterbury in Indiana for more training before flying out to the Nanghahar provence.

They were at a deployment ceremony as state dignitaries and families of the civilian soldiers gathered at at the Ike Skelton Training Center in Jefferson City.

They’re not sure yet how long they’ll be there. John says it’s supposed to be for 12 months but could be there longer, and he says the guard is always asking for volunteers to serve longer.

They say they met after enlisting in the military and were going to school in San Antonio. Jessica is from Indiana; John is from Michigan. The couple now lives in Springfield.

They say as a couple going to a war-torn country, their worries aren’t so different than civilian couples’.


Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]

Filed Under: Military Tagged With:

National Guardsmen heading out on mission anything but "routine"

August 13, 2009 By

A contingent of Missouri National Guardsmen will leave Fort Benning, Georgia, on the weekend for service in Afghanistan. And, while many Missourians might consider these missions “routine,” the man who is leading this group of Guardsmen into a war zone wants in known these operations are anything but routine.

Command Chief Warrant Officer Don Muschler Missouri National Guard Command Chief Warrant Officer Don Muschler says going into a a part of the world in which there are hostilities is always a danger.

“We’re in a war zone – real bullets, real bombs, real bad guys wanting to impose their threat on us every day,” said Muschler as he prepared to leave Jefferson City for a week of training and preparations at Fort Benning. “The risk is there and the high threat is there.”

And no one gets accustomed to going to a war zone – no matter how many times a service member has been there.

“It’s one of those things you’ll never get used to – a deployment or multiple deployments,” said Muschler. “You’re away from your family for upwards of twelve months. You can never get back the missed birthdays, you know, the first time the baby crawls, the first time the baby talks. You can never get that back.”

But Muschler sees the big picture.

“We do this for the greater good and, hopefully, our children won’t have to do with what we’re doing now.”

The pilots and other personnel heading to Afghanistan will transport VIPs and others to locations in the theater of operations. These are not combat missions, but that does not mean they are danger-free. The ammunition fired at these planes can do just as much damage as they do to aircraft involved in combat.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)

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Nixon impressed by Missouri troops in Iraq, Afghanistan

July 26, 2009 By

Governor Nixon has returned from his trip visiting Missouri’s military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, reflecting on their dedication to their mission

Nixon_MOTrioops.JPG Nixon joined a Department of Defense sponsored tour with four other governors, touring Iraq, Afghanistan as well as a military hospital in Germany. In the outer reaches of Afghanistan, Nixon met with the Missouri National Guard ‘s Agri-Business Development Team, about 60 Missourians teaching Afghan farmers better methods of agriculture.

“To try to get them to quit growing poppies and making heroin and, instead, grow food crops,” Nixon told the Missourinet. “And also, at the same time, getting out there and dealing with issues on water as well as bringing the opportunity to interact directly with those folks right on the borders of the countries so that we get solid intelligence and that we win not only the war we are in, but the peace afterwards.”

Nixon completed a two-day tour of US military units in Afghanistan after touring Iraq, now largely given back to the Iraqi government. Nixon said the Department of Defense called his office about three-and-a-half weeks ago, inviting him to join a delegation of governors touring the Middle East. He flew to Washington, D.C. Friday, July 17th to be briefed before flying to Kuwait. He returned late on Wednesday, July 22nd. The other governors on the trip are Rick Perry of Texas, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Pat Quinn of Illinois and Jim Gibbons of Nevada.

Missouri has a significant presence in the countries. Along with the Agricultural Development Team, the 1140th Military Police Company serves in Afghanistan. A Military Transition Team serves in Iraq. Six additional Missouri National Guard units are scheduled to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan later this year.

Nixon and the other governors visited the US Embassy and military installations in Kabul, Afghanistan and met with soldiers in Bagram. During the two days in Iraq, Nixon met with Missouri soldiers serving in Baghdad and Basra.

Those Missourians impress their governor.

“These are professional soldiers all of whom have joined and given up parts of their life many with families back here,” Nixon said. “So, the take away for me was the look in the faces of the soldiers and the commitment that they had from top to bottom to lean forward, to be strong and to get their task accomplished.”

Nixon says he wanted to see how the military has integrated National Guard units, the Reserves and the regular Army. He says it seems to be working well. Nixon also, along with the other governors, has requested that once the equipment being used by the American military in Iraq is no longer needed, that some of it can be sent back to Missouri to use in the National Guard’s responsibilities here.

The trip concluded with a stop at a military hospital the United States runs in Landstuhl, Germany.

 

 

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (2 min MP3)
Download/listen Brent Martin interviews Gov. Nixon on military trip (10 min MP3)

Filed Under: Military, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Governor Nixon in Middle East on military tour

July 19, 2009 By

Governor Nixon is in the Middle East with a handful of other governors visiting Missouri National Guard members while making a special pitch to the Pentagon.

Nixon_ME_edit.jpg After a day touring Baghdad, Iraq, Nixon spoke with reporters from a military base in Kuwait. Nixon says the purpose of the trip is three-fold, primarily meeting with Missouri Guard personnel.

"And, then to assess where we are and what demands will be in the future," Nixon stated. "Also to say as troop withdrawals begin here and as equipment is moved out that we in the Missouri National Guard are going to making a strong pitch to get some of that equipment back to Missouri."

Nixon said all the governors are pressing the Pentagon to release some of the equipment now being used in Iraq for use back home. The other governors on the trip are Rick Perry of Texas, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Pat Quinn of Illinois and Jim Gibbons of Nevada.

Nixon flew to Washington, D.C. Friday morning and left for the Middle East at around 11:30 Friday morning. Nixon got to tour Baghdad on Saturday.

"For me, it was a transition point," Nixon said of his tour of the Iraqi capital. "To literally stand there where Saddam had stood shooting his shotgun in the air and, instead, see that turf being ours as visitors and the Iraqis being the ones that are in charge of being responsible for it, I thought was a very moving moment."

The governor says military rules won’t allow him to disclose where he will be next…or how long he will remain in the Middle East.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Military, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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