OLD HARBOR, Alaska - Alaska National Guardsmen from the 207th Engineer Utility Detachment teamed up with service members from across the Department of Defense to participate in an Innovative Readiness Training runway extension project here, April 17 - May 1, 2017.
Led by U.S. Marine Forces Reserve, this year's four-month project is part of a civil and joint military program to improve military readiness while simultaneously providing quality services to underserved communities throughout the United States. Participants include a mixture of active and reserve components from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy.
In its fifth year, IRT Old Harbor's mission is to construct a 2,700-foot extension of the airport runway to expand the Kodiak Island community's economy. From firefighting and medical personnel to engineering and transportation of goods needed to sustain the camp, a variety of occupational specialties are needed to complete the project.
"Out of the eight Soldiers here, I have four heavy equipment operators, two mechanics, a cook and an electrician," said Sgt. 1st Class Seth Gordon, 207th EUD readiness noncommissioned officer, while describing the different types of services the AKNG is providing to the mission. "Our Soldiers look forward to the opportunity to come out here every year to complete training while making a difference for the local community."
Old Harbor, a small community on Kodiak Island, is highly dependent on the fishing industry. In order to support economic expansion, the Old Harbor Native Corporation, the City of Old Harbor and the Old Harbor Tribal Council have been working to establish infrastructure needed to start a fish processing operation in the community.
"The long-term plan is to put in a cannery and hydroelectric plant, and a longer runway will be needed to accommodate the larger aircraft," explained Gordon, a three-year veteran of the Old Harbor IRT mission. "It's a win-win situation; we get to travel to a remote location, operate out of a small camp much like a forward operating base and get training on equipment that is needed to complete this project."
The Alaska Guard members are familiar with heavy equipment that they operate and maintain in Anchorage like the D7 bulldozer and roller compactor, and have the opportunity to work with motorized scrapers, excavators and rock trucks, equipment they do not have.
"We are getting trained on equipment we do not usually operate and can train other Soldiers in the unit how to use them so we are more versatile in any environment that we go to," explained Gordon. "Our electrician is learning a lot about generators and powering the camps, and our cook is getting the opportunity to train for the first time since he completed his initial job training."
The unique training environment of an IRT provides participants opportunities to share best practices between the different military services, which is similar to the experience of multi-service collaboration during many deployment scenarios.
Staff Sgt. Randy Graftema, a project coordinator for IRT Old Harbor who is with the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, Marine Forces Reserve, says that the best part of the training mission is getting everyone to work together as a team.
"We see a lot of military members that do not get to work with the other branches very much," explained Graftema, who believes the cohesion is a very important part of training since service members are deployed in joint environments.
In addition to moving material, this year's mission is also focusing on blasting, which requires a special skill set from quarry specialists.
"We have two blasts over on the west side [of the runway] and we will be blasting the north hill possibly too," said Graftema, who explained that the blasting is dependent on the amount of material needed for the runway. "[The Arizona National Guard] is going to be doing quarry ops. They will be taking rock and crushing it down to a finer grade for the top of the runway and they will also be assisting with the drilling and blasting of the mountains."
During a three-month tour to Old Harbor, the AZNG's 259th Engineer Platoon is slated to provide approximately 90,000 tons of crushed material for the project.
Service members began this year's IRT on April 3 and will continue rotating missions at varied lengths until August 8, moving a projected 150,000 cubic yards of material. Future projects include another expansion on the runway and the construction of a road to the proposed hydroelectric plant.
Additional Guardsmen from the 207th EUD are scheduled to return for another rotation June 12-26.
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