LATHAM, N.Y. - A video produced by Buffalo's 152nd Engineer Company has been named winner of the New York National Guard's first unit video contest.
The 10-minute video was produced by New York Army National Guard 2nd Lt. Erin Morris, a platoon leader in the 152nd Engineer Company, from video and photographs she took as well as those provided by other unit members.
The video recounts the highlights of the company's training and operations during federal fiscal year 2015, which includes the unit's response to the "Snovember" November 2014 snowstorm in Erie County, the company's annual training, and its annual "engineer rodeo."
Maj. Gen. Patrick Murphy, the adjutant general of New York, decided to hold a video competition in order to capture the varied missions and activities across the 16,000 members of the New York Army and Air National Guard.
"Our units take pride in showing off the exceptional training they do and missions they accomplish throughout the year," Murphy said. "I want to encourage our young service members who shoot and edit video as a hobby to spend time capturing their unit in action to tell the unit story from inside the organization."
The 152nd Engineer Company video is an excellent introduction into what one Army National Guard unit accomplishment in a year, he said.
The video can be seen here on the New York National Guard's YouTube Channel:
The unit and 2nd Lt. Morris will receive Adjutant General Awards for their effort.
Morris, a Buffalo resident, works in the marketing department of the Buffalo News, and said she took on the additional duty of being the unofficial public affairs officer for the 152nd Engineers. A member of the New York Army National Guard for two and-a-half years, Morris brought a camera to unit activities and took still and video images.
She asked other members of the unit to provide her with their pictures as well. She was at her engineer officer basic course when the unit responded to the November 2014 snow storm, for example.
The annual engineer rodeo was especially fun to video, Morris said. The company's equipment operators practice bowling using a road grader, play basketball with a skid steer and test their ability to pick up and dumb basket balls with a ditch digger.
Capt. Nathan Attard, the commander of the 152nd Engineer Company, said Morris worked hard to produce a great video when they saw Murphy's request for videos. She did an excellent job, he said.
The 152nd Engineer Company is headquartered at Buffalo's historic Connecticut Street Armory. The unit is an element of the New York Army National Guard's 204th Engineer Battalion which is headquartered in Binghamton and has elements in Horseheads, Walton, and Poughkeepsie along with the 152nd.
The company specializes in building and maintaining roads, parking areas and helipads and operate bulldozers, road graders, front end loaders and dump trucks.