YREKA, Calif. - Spc. Eunjin Lee was sitting on her bed Friday, Aug. 1, checking Facebook, when her phone rang. On standby to support the wildfires in Northern California - that was what her noncommissioned officer in charge told her.
Lee is a financial management technician with the 223rd Financial Management Detachment out of Azusa, California.
Her first thought was, "Why us? We're finance. What are we going to do, throw dollar bills on the fire?"
Five minutes later, Lee was told that her orders were published and to report to her home station on Sunday.
"I definitely came back to my roots and realized that we are all Soldiers first," Lee said. "I just have to set my official job title aside right now and be a Soldier and help out where I am needed."
The teams, who were tasked to be hand crews out on the fire line, headed to Camp Roberts first for a crash course in fire behavior, identification and how to use the various tools to put out hot spots.
Lee said her crew's first day out on the line at the Little Deer Fire in the Klamath National Forest was really challenging.
"It's not really something you can prepare for in a classroom," Lee said. "You have to get out there and actually do it."
At first, it took her crew several hours to work their way through a quarter of a mile because they were still learning how to identify hot spots. By the end of the day though, they put out 10 hot spots in one hour.
"Most of us are not firefighters," she said. "It's a whole new learning experience but I think we are making it work."
Lt. Antonio Limcaco, with the 217th Financial Management Detachment out of San Luis Obispo, thought the job was interesting.
"It's definitely different than what we usually do," he said. "It's a tough assignment but we are able to tackle it."
Lee has also found the experience rewarding.
"As finance, its kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said. "A lot of us feel that we are doing something that actually makes a difference and I like that we can come out here and really show what we can do as well."
As of Friday, about 560 personnel from the California National Guard were assisting on wildfire control efforts, according to the National Guard Bureau.