Soldiers of the Louisiana National Guard’s 527th Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade, work to reinforce oil protection barriers and land bridges along Elmer’s Island, La., near Grand Isle and Port Fourchon, La., July 9, 2010. Photo by Sgt. Michael Owens

Soldiers of the Louisiana National Guard’s 527th Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade, are reinforcing oil protection structures along the coasts of Grand Isle and Port Fourchon, La., July 9.

In May, soldiers with the 769th Engineer Battalion, 225th Eng. Bde., built a 2,000 foot rock wall several feet high to serve as a barrier against oil encroaching on the marshlands. The Guardsmen from the 527th Eng. Bn. are now adding an additional 500 feet to the wall to increase the protection. The height of the wall will also be raised by roughly three feet to keep the tide from washing over it.

“The 769th finished the rock wall back in May, but after weeks of being beaten by waves and tides, we need to make it stronger so it can continue to be a useful asset,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan W. Norred, noncommissioned officer in charge of the project.

On the other end of the island, soldiers are reinforcing a land bridge so they can easily drive their vehicles to their work sites. They must battle inclement weather and rough seas during their 12-hour work shift.

“We’re going to build the bridge up about three feet and add a ramp on the east side so vehicles can easily maneuver,” said Norred.

These oil protection structures are significant because they increase Louisiana’s chances to fight the oil coming in from the Gulf of Mexico into the delicate marshlands.

“The structures built by the National Guard are really helping us fight the oil by keeping it near the beaches and out of the marshes,” said Windell Curole, director of the South Lafourche Parish levee district. Curole explained that it is easier to fight the oil on the beaches, than in the marshes.

“We really appreciate what the Guard is doing out here, because their efforts are really helping our community combat the oil spill,” he concluded.

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Story by Sgt. Michael Owens

A Louisiana National Guard soldier from the 225th Engineer Brigade fills a Hesco basket with sand on Holly Beach in Cameron Parish, July 3. Approximately 100 soldiers from the 225th Engineer Brigade are working to emplace barriers along a low-laying stretch of coast to close gaps and protect the land from possible oil intrusion. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Sara Piazza

Despite adverse weather brought in by Hurricane Alex earlier this week, Louisiana National Guard soldiers from the 225th Engineer Brigade continue to emplace and repair Hesco barriers along the coast in Cameron Parish, La.

The crew finished a two-and-a-half mile stretch of protective wall along the lowest portions of Highway 82 between the Cameron ferry and Holly Beach just 24 hours before Hurricane Alex hit the Gulf Coast.

Hesco baskets filled and emplaced by approximately 100 soldiers from the 225th Engineer Brigade line the coast of Holly Beach in Cameron Parish, July 3. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Sara Piazza

“Every time the tide rises more than two feet above normal, it pushes water out over this highway. If these barriers wouldn’t have been in place, we would have had to close the street, wait for the floodwater to go down and then clean up all the debris,” said Clifton Hebert, director of the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. “Thanks to the National Guard, the water never touched the road.”

Although the barriers were not emplaced to ward off high tides brought in by hurricanes, Hebert said he was reassured after seeing their reaction to Alex that they will hold up well under normal conditions.

Hesco baskets filled and emplaced by approximately 100 soldiers from the 225th Engineer Brigade line the coast of Holly Beach in Cameron Parish, July 3. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Sara Piazza

Capt. Ingram M. Scott, logistics officer for the 769th Engineer Battalion, 225th Eng. Bde., is overseeing the Cameron Parish project and said despite the hurricane, their efforts have not slowed on the coast. He said they will take the lessons learned and use them to prepare for similar weather in the future.

“We’ve learned when the Hesco baskets are closer to the water, they don’t withstand the tide as well,” Scott said. “We are now building a second wall to act as a reinforcement barrier behind the sections most damaged by the hurricane, and we plan to build the walls farther from the coastline in the future.”

Scott says his Soldiers are motivated and morale remains high. His crew plans to continue working 12-hour days until their project is complete.

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Story by Sgt. 1st Class Sara Piazza

Pfc. Andrea Miedzionoski, Forward Support Company, 101st Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade, of Peabody, Mass., works on verifying communication frequencies of the command post's radio. Photo by Staff Sgt. April Mota

Less than one year ago, Pfc. Andrea Miedzionoski, of Forward Support Company, 101st Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade, found herself signing on the dotted line at her local military entrance processing station.

Miedzionoski, 30, from Peabody, Mass., now serves as a signal support systems specialist, working on the company’s convoy support team and helping maintain their radios.

“I’m happy to be doing my job, it suits me,” she said of working with the team.

Miedzionoski was inspired by her cousin, an Army Ranger, to join the Massachusetts Army National Guard. She saw the sense of pride he had for himself and his country.

“I was looking to have that same pride in myself as my cousin had. I was looking for some meaning in my life.” stated Miedzionoski.

Miedzionoski, attended basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., then went on to her Military Occupational Specialty school at Fort Gordon, Ga. She graduated and immediately reported to her home station with the 101st Eng. Bn., in Whitinsville, Mass. One day later, the unit departed for their mobilization station at Whitinsville, Mass., to begin the train up for deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“Reporting to a unit that was leaving the next day was a little nerve wracking; it definitely had its ups and downs. Ultimately, I think it was the best situation though. I was still focused on my military training I had just received,” Miedzionoski explained.

Her main concern with deploying so soon after graduating was she knew no one in the unit. But as soon as she arrived, she was welcomed with open arms.

“I came into a tight knit group and was instantly taken in and warmly welcomed. I’ve quickly created a very strong bond with everyone here. We’ve got a great team.”

Pfc. Andrea Miedzionoski, Forward Support Company, 101st Engineer Battalion, 225th Engineer Brigade, of Peabody, Mass., gathers the tools needed to install radio mounts in the company's vehicles. The radios need to be mounted properly to ensure all connections stay secure while out on a mission. Communication between the vehicles in the convoy, and with the command post is an integral part to completing missions safely. Photo by Staff Sgt. April Mota

After the deployment is over, Miedzionoski is interested in going back to school. She’s leaning toward the medical field and would like to try to reclassify as a combat medic.

“I’ll possibly go on active duty, but I wanted to try the National Guard first to get my feet wet,” Miedzionski said.

Since joining the unit, Miedzionoski has continuously stepped up to the plate to get the job done, displaying the initiative and motivation of a well seasoned Soldier.

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Story by Staff Sgt. April Mota

Staff Sgt. Xavier Bowie, 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Engineer Brigade, from West Palm Beach, Fla., descends into a tunnel beneath a heavily traveled road in western Baghdad to shut off tunnel access to terrorists trying to emplace bombs. Photo by Stephen Clements

On a dark night, two terrorists discovered tunnels underneath a heavily traveled road in western Baghdad and used an improvised explosive device to blow a huge hole in the street to disrupt traffic.

To prevent this act of terrorism from happening again, the engineers from Headquarters and Support Company, 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Engineer Brigade, were called in to repair the gaping hole in the road and seal access to the tunnels beneath the road.

“The crater was pretty dangerous and we ended up repairing two holes in that road,” stated Staff Sgt. Xavier Bowie, mission non-commissioned officer-in-charge, from West Palm Beach, Fla. “There’s an Iraqi army checkpoint nearby and the [Iraqi army troops] said it caused a lot of traffic when people would stop to avoid the holes. It was even worse when the drivers didn’t see the holes and would just drive into them and damage their cars.”

Moving by night, the engineer teams arrived on the damaged overpass. Once the explosives teams of the 731st Explosive Ordnance Detachment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division cleared the area of any possible threats, the tunnel crew of engineers descended into the darkness to cut off terrorist access to the tunnels.

Spc. Stephen Green, of Pensacola, Fla., and Spc. Eduardo Bonilla, of Jacksonville, N.C., welded steel plates over all the points that led into the tunnel, while, simultaneously equipment platoon Soldiers, prepared the holes for repair. The Soldiers repaired the craters by chipping away the damaged asphalt and cleaning up the site.

Once the tunnel was sealed on one side of the overpass, the welding team moved to the other side of the road to seal off access on that side.

Spc. Eduardo Bonilla, from Jacksonville, N.C., and Spc. Stephen Green, from Pensacola, Fla., 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Engineer Brigade, weld a drainage port shut on a heavily traveled route in western Baghdad. Photo by Stephen Clements

After three hours in the tunnels, and an additional two hours fixing the holes, Spc. Christopher Sallas, of Tulsa, Okla., used a forklift to place a very heavy steel plate into the large crater in the overpass. Next, the crater team led by Staff Sgt. Wesley Roach, of Rapid City, S.D., placed a rapid drying asphalt alternative over the plate. After smoothing out the mixture, the team placed road cones around the asphalt to allow it to dry without interruption by traffic.

A follow-up visit to the site a few days later revealed a situation that was not all that surprising given the situation that brought them out there in the first place; the asphalt and steel plate had been completely removed. The engineers then returned to the site with another solution to the problem.

“An attempt was made to reopen access to the tunnel,” stated Command Sgt. Maj. Francis Thibodeau, 46th ECB (H), a native of Detroit. “This is a busy road and someone was going to get hurt if we didn’t put a stop to this, so we sent the welders back in to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

This time the engineers took measures one step further. With the help of large engineer equipment, they placed several heavy plates of over-sized steel deep into the hole. The welders then sprang into action sealing the plates into place to end access to the tunnels once and for all.

With repairs made to the holes, several massive steel plates welded firmly in place and all the tunnels sealed, the engineers were able to not only defeat IED-emplacing terrorists, but also improved the lives of the Iraqi people living in the area.

Sgt. Bryan Silver (kneeling), 46th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), 225th Engineer Brigade, a native of Cerulean, Ky., and Spc. Paul Thrailkill (left standing), a native of Canoga, Calif., weld several over-sized pieces of steel into a gaping hole left by a bomb placed in the underground tunnels. Photo by Stephen Clements

“This is great that this hole is fixed,” exclaimed Hasan, an Iraqi soldier that helped to guard the site. “People have so many problems on this road; sewage trucks can’t get by, families driving get stuck if they don’t see it. Thank you!”

Reiterating the importance of their work and their contribution to the bigger fight, Thibodeau added, “The welders no doubt contributed to the counter-IED fight.”

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Story by Stephen Clements

Col. Ahmed Khalifa (left), commander, 6th Iraqi Army Engineers, presents newly promoted Brig. Gen. Owen Monconduit (center) of Pineville, La., a gift in celebration of the newest general officer in Multi-National Division - Baghdad during a ceremony, Feb. 17. Maj. Gen. Daniel Bolger (right), commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, MND-B, pinned Monconduit, commander of the 225th Engineer Brigade.

Four weeks to the day after the inauguration of American’s first black president, the Louisiana National Guard promoted its first black officer to the rank of brigadier general.

Owen Monconduit, the commander of the 225th Engineer Brigade, received his first star during a ceremony on Camp Liberty, Iraq, Feb. 17.

“This honor is bigger than me,” Monconduit, of Pineville, La., said. “Many great Soldiers have come before me to allow this event to take place today, and many more will follow.”

February is Black History Month, a time to remember the many great blacks that paved the way for equal opportunity for all.

“I am proud of the National Guard, Louisiana and our country for the progression of equal opportunity for all races and genders. The first bill President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Louisiana just elected the first Vietnamese U.S. Representative, Anh Cao, and last year the first governor of Indian decent, Gov. Bobby Jindal. This is a sign of our times, moving forward on equal ground.”

Monconduit graduated from Louisiana State University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Engineer Technology, from the University of Phoenix in 1998 with a Master of Arts in organizational management and from the United States Army War College in 2007 with a master’s in strategic studies.

During his 28-year career, Monconduit served as a platoon leader, company executive officer and as a company and battalion commander with the 225th Eng. Bde. He became the chief of the environment management section for the Louisiana National Guard in 1991, where he served before becoming the Construction Management and Facilities officer in 2000. Before accepting command of the engineer brigade in 2007, Monconduit served as the executive officer to the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau.

“The National Guard is a great organization – it’s a value-based organization and it certainly expresses equality and has many opportunities available for any young person that is interested in the military,” Monconduit said. “It’s a humbling experience to achieve your dreams. But through perseverance and hard work, it pays off.”

A veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, he commanded the 528th Engineer Battalion from Monroe, La., through a year-long tour to Afghanistan in 2005 before leading a battalion for six months on state-active duty for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Monconduit’s wife, Anges Chenevert, and Maj. Gen. Landreneau viewed the promotion via video teleconferencing from Louisiana to Baghdad.

“Most importantly, he leads in the direction of taking care of Soldiers. Because of that, he has earned the respect of the Soldier and NCO corps he leads,” Landreneau said. “Owen’s a great Soldier, a great patriot, very dedicated to his Soldiers and a great leader.”

Monconduit’s awards include: the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Superior Unit Award, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and the Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon.

The 225th Engineer Brigade from Pineville, La., officially unveiled their unit colors as the provincial engineers in Baghdad, Feb. 9, after replacing the 926th Engineer Brigade from Montgomery, Ala.

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Story by Sgt. Rebekah Malone