COLUMBIA, S.C. – Approximately 150 Engineer Soldiers and 60 vehicles from the South Carolina Army National Guard are heading to Puerto Rico to assist in recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria.
The Engineers are part of a multi-state Engineer Task force comprised of Soldiers from North Carolina, Louisiana and New York Army National Guard. They will assist in clearing roads and reaching areas cut off from the storm as well as clearing debris and getting infrastructure restored.
The South Carolina Soldiers are assigned to the 122nd Engineer Battalion headquartered in Edgefield and the 178th Engineer Battalion in Rock Hill. The multi-state Engineer Task Force will be comprised of approximately 750 Soldiers and will bring equipment capabilities such as bulldozers, front-end loaders, dump trucks and chain saws.
"I am always so proud of our South Carolina Soldiers who are ready at a moment’s notice to help our fellow neighbors in need, even hundreds or a thousand miles away,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston, Jr., the adjutant general for South Carolina. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbors in Puerto Rico whose homes and livelihoods were devastated by Hurricane Maria.”
This unit also supported the recovery operations in South Carolina after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and the flood of South Carolina in 2015.
"Our Engineers have done missions like this before and they are well prepared," said First Lt. Thomas Kaiser, a platoon leader in the 178th Engineer Battalion, South Carolina Army National Guard. "We've seen it, we've helped here and we are looking forward to helping the people in Puerto Rico get through this."
The Soldiers are prepared to operate independently for the first five-days in austere conditions and will be on the ground as long as needed which could be up to 60-days.