FARGO, N.D., - Twenty-one Soldiers with the North Dakota Army National Guard’s 191st Military Police Company arrived in Haiti yesterday.
They will spend three weeks there providing security to facilitate the movement of U.S. service members, who will construct a base camp about 95 miles north of Port au Prince, near Gonaives.
Sgt. 1st Class Troy L. Skelton will lead the North Dakota Guardsmen, who all volunteered for the humanitarian mission. They will be serving alongside Guardsmen from Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, Montana, South Dakota, Texas, Indiana, New York and the Virgin Islands as part of the U.S. Southern Command New Horizons mission.
In all, about 500 will work together to help the communities that were seriously impacted by a Jan. 12 earthquake. Beyond Guardsmen, that total includes Navy Seabees and medical personnel from the Navy, Air Force and Army Reserve.
“We had more than enough Soldiers volunteer to go on this mission. North Dakota Guardsmen are anxious to use their skills to help those who have suffered so much in Haiti following the earthquake,” said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, the adjutant general of North Dakota. “While the mission calls to them on a personal level, it offers them even more on a professional level as they gain valuable training in an overseas environment.”
The New Horizons mission focus is on construction projects and humanitarian and medical assistance. It gives participating military personnel the opportunity to use their capabilities to help communities and individuals with humanitarian needs while enhancing their ability to deploy abroad in support of military operations.
The North Dakota Soldiers spent Tuesday afternoon checking their gear and finishing paperwork needed for the mission. The area they will be assisting in has little to offer in the way of electricity or housing, so they planned and packed with those conditions in mind.
The Guardsmen arrived in uniform at Hector International Airport, Fargo, N.D., early on May 19 for their flight to Haiti, anticipating deplaning and going straight to work upon their arrival in country.
“Twenty-one (Soldiers) from the 191st Military Police Company have arrived in Haiti,” Skelton reported in an e-mail message yesterday evening. “The Soldiers are motivated and eager to start their mission.”