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Guard engineers working at Bond Lake

by jmaloni
Thu, Jun 13th 2013 01:35 pm

New York Army National Guard combat engineers assigned to the 152nd Engineer Support Company are spending a week of their annual training period regrading drainage ditches and regarding roads at Bond Lake Park in Lewiston.

About 20 to 25 soldiers will be at work at the county park through June 15.

The 531-acre park is crisscrossed by numerous hiking trails, which are paralleled by drainage ditches, which keep the trails dry. Over the years the ditches have become overgrown and filled in.

The mission of the 152nd will be to clear and drain 2,350 feet of damaged ditches. The county will provide pipe and other materials needed to redo the drainage ditches.

The dirt removed from the ditches will be used to regrade the trails and roads in the park. The company will also do clearing and grubbing work to make trails more passable.

The company will use its assigned backhoes, dump trucks, graders and dozers to do the work.

As an engineer support company, the 152nd's mission is to build base areas, runways, and roads. This training is especially relevant for his soldiers, said Capt. Eric Butcher, the company commander. The skills his soldiers exercise on this project will be useful in both an overseas deployment or in a response to a state emergency, he said.

National Guard units conduct Innovative Readiness Training in communities when the work employs the same skills they use in their military duties, when the work benefits local governments and communities, and when the job is not going to be done by a private business.

The 152nd, which is headquartered at the Connecticut Street Armory in Buffalo, is an element of the 204th Engineer Battalion in Binghamton.

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