NOGALES, Ariz. – Heavy road construction equipment operators with the South Dakota Army National Guard's 842nd Engineer Company have spent their annual training reconstructing a 1.5 mile section of gravel road within several feet of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Army National Guard unit, headquartered in Spearfish with detachments in Sturgis, Belle Forche and Lemmon, deployed for training on Jan. 24 for three weeks as part of Operation Jump Start.
The completed road will provide a wider path and much improved surface for border patrol vehicles to travel. It will replace a section of older road that winds its way up and down over the rolling hills south of Nogales.
Work on straightening and widening the road has involved cutting through steep hills that will allow safer travel for the border patrol agents who use it.
"The project gives all operators, both experienced and inexperienced, a chance to step-up and learn while completing a real world mission," said Sgt. Ronny Roselles, Lead, a grader operator who has been busy supporting the mission smoothing out the bumps in the road.
One Soldier receiving the on-the-job training is Pvt. Samuel Johnson, Gillette, Wyo., who said that this first annual training experience has allowed him to improve skills in both equipment operation and general construction.
Johnson has had the opportunity to operate a scraper and dump truck in a challenging learning environment on steep terrain.
Sgt. Brian Schaff, Rapid City, described the Arizona terrain as unique to anything he has seen in his years as a bulldozer operator.
"The soil is much drier down here compared to the terrain in South Dakota," said Schaff.
The dry southeast Arizona soil has kept Spc. Randall Roseland, Spearfish, busy spraying the worksite with water. He drives the unit's water truck that keeps the soil moist for compaction and has sprayed more than 30,000 gallons of water to support the engineers' efforts.
A few engineers with the 155th Engineer Detachment, Rapid City, also went down to help the 842nd. Spc. Dillon Whitcher, Scenic, has been helping to build concrete forms for culverts placed under the new roadway.
Whitcher explained that the culverts are essential to the project because they control erosion by diverting water away from the road in low lying areas that are prone to flooding.
He added that although he is from another unit, members of the 842nd have made him feel, "Like part of their group."