Vermont and Ihio National Guard Engineers work to repair a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene floodwaters on Vt. Rte 113 in Cavendish, Vt. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea Sheeran

The mission: Rebuild a road that is now a 65-foot-deep, 141-foot-long hole in a hillside in the town of Cavendish.

The call went out from the Vermont National Guard for heavy equipment and personnel and among other states, Ohio answered. In less than two days, Joint Task Force Tipper, which consists of the 1192nd and 1191st Engineer Companies, 200th RED HORSE Squadron, and Force Support Company and Headquarters and Headquarters Company from the 216th Engineer Battalion, arrived with 33 vehicles and 84 Guardsmen.

The 131st Engineer Company of the Vermont National Guard and JTF Tipper are working from dawn to dusk in Cavendish to complete this mission. With the Green Mountain Boys getting the project started and working out the engineering and the Ohio National Guard bringing in 20, 20-ton dump trucks and 3, 10-ton dump trucks the coordination has worked seamlessly.

Vermont and Ihio National Guard Engineers work to repair a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene floodwaters on Vt. Rte 113 in Cavendish, Vt. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea Sheeran

“Vermont was ready for us and accepted us. As soon as we got here, they had everything set up and ready to go. They have treated us like one of their own,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Sutter, the Project OIC.

With the JTF Tipper equipment and personnel in state, Capt. Annaliese Baumer, Commander of the 131st Engineer Company, discussed the scope of the project explaining that it will take 3,500 20-ton dump trucks loads back and forth from the quarries to the jobsite. The project will require so much material, the quarries had to blast to fill the need of 70,000 tons of material.

The main concern for Capt. Tanner Dunlap, JTF Tipper Commander, is time.

“We estimate this project will take six weeks but our orders don’t extend that long. Our job is to support the Vermont National Guard and we will get done as much as we can while we are here,” says Dunlap.

This will prove to be a difficult task as one roundtrip to get material takes two hours. The quarries where the material is coming from are difficult to get to as the roads that would go directly to them, have been washed out. JTF Tipper is forced to find and what once was a 30-minute trip is now a 60-minute trip one way.

Vermont and Ihio National Guard Engineers work to repair a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene floodwaters on Vt. Rte 113 in Cavendish, Vt. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andrea Sheeran

Dunlap expressed that the safety of his troops on site is also a main concern. There is a lot of material they have to bring in and there are also site hazards that are of concern. The hill on the other side of the jobsite looks like it may give away and create a landslide. Dunlap says that they will do what they can on the project they were brought in to help with and if any issues come up while they are working they will have to address them at that point. Playing the “what if” scenarios, Dunlap says, is never ending. For now, JTF Tipper will focus on the mission at hand and adjust if they need to.

The engineers of the 131st are integrating all of the support seamlessly into their fold. And it is a good thing. The project is massive and without the heavy trucks and operators from Ohio that are running 12 hours per day, the 131st would not be this far in the schedule.

The 131st is split between Dover and Cavendish with both working on Route 131. It is the magnitude of projects across the state that has brought welcomed support from Ohio. The multi-state mission being led by JTF Green Mountain Spirit continues and many National Guardsmen are working diligently to ensure reliable access to towns and residents across the State.

by 1st Lt Dyana K. Allen
DVIDS

Croatian and Minnesota National Guard Soldiers prepare to clear a room during an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team training exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center. Photo Credit: Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone Walker.

In preparation for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan with Hungarian Soldiers, Staff Sgt. Timothy Harmon has given himself a crash course in the language.

Harmon and fellow Guard members recently completed Operational Mentor and Liaison Team training with their NATO counterparts at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center. The Minnesota National Guard also completed OMLT training with Croatian troops.

Harmon, a member of the Ohio National Guard, calculates that he knows more than 50 Hungarian words and has reached the point where he can engage in short, polite conversations in the language with the Hungarian soldiers that he will serve with in Afghanistan.

“I just want to be able to be more effective communicating with those guys,” Harmon said.

In all, 13 countries from around the world participated in OMLT training at JMRC. The training exercise included military personnel from the United Kingdom, Poland, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Romania, France, Hungary, Norway, Croatia, Slovakia, Afghanistan and the United States.

The training exercise gave NATO countries’ troops a chance to experience mentoring, coaching and teaching actual Afghan National Army soldiers. At the same time, 65 ANA soldiers here got a chance to work with troops from other countries who will be part of counter insurgency operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the OMLTs will coach, teach and mentor Afghan soldiers to take a leading role in defending their nation.

The upcoming deployment will be Harmon’s first to Afghanistan, although he has served a tour of duty in Iraq. It also will be the first time he will train, work and live with troops from another country in a combat zone.

The two weeks Harmon spent with Hungarians at JMRC along with the four months with them in Hungary has allowed him, not only to learn a new language, but it also has allowed him time to get to know his Hungarian comrades. During the OMLT training, Harmon was astonished by the Hungarian soldiers’ work ethic and eagerness to learn.

At the end of most days, the National Guardsmen knew where to find the Hungarian soldiers — outside the barracks in the grass continuing weapons training or practicing causality care.

“They are adamant about learning about the different techniques and methods we use in the U.S. military,” Harmon said. “It makes our jobs a lot easier and instills confidence in us.”

1st Lt. Josef Tulipan of Hungarian Defense Forces said working with the U.S. troops at JMRC was a mutually beneficial learning experience. Most importantly, it gave Hungarian soldiers insight into how American’s react in particular combat situations, he said.

“We learned how the U.S. Soldiers think,” Tulipan said.

Lt. Phillip Patti of the Ohio National Guard said training with the Hungarians here at JMRC gave troops from both countries a chance to complete critical hands-on training using equipment, aids and other assets that weren’t available elsewhere.

“It was a good time to get [the Hungarians] in the driver’s seat of a Humvee and behind a turret,” Patti said.

Like their Ohio counterparts, Minnesota National Guardsmen also completed combined OMLT training with Croatian troops at JMRC. Throughout their training, they also had the opportunity to train with the ANA troops.

Maj. Baer David of the Minnesota National Guard said the upcoming mission in Afghanistan will require his Soldiers and the Croatian troops to work together. Both vehicle and squad crews will be a mix of Croatian and American Soldiers. Training time together at JMRC was critical in ironing out any problems that could hamper the troops from acting as a unified team.

“It’s one team one fight,” Baer said. “We have to act as one unit.”

US Army
By Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone Walker

Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark A. Wanner sits at Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s desk prior to a Feb. 6, 2010, Silver Star Medal award ceremony in the Ohio Statehouse atrium. Also pictured with Wanner and Strickland, left, are Army Maj. Gen. Gregory L. Wayt, right, Ohio adjutant general, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Sean Clifton. Wanner received the medal for heroic actions that saved Clifton’s life during an operation in eastern Afghanistan on May 31, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Cleary

Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Wanner prefers to be referred to as a soldier, not as a hero. But he graciously humors those who insist on the latter.

On Feb. 6, the Ohio Army National Guard Special Forces medical sergeant stood unassumingly on a stage in the Ohio Statehouse atrium here to receive the Silver Star Medal — the nation’s third-highest medal for valor in combat.

Despite the season’s worst snowstorm, several hundred people, including his fellow Green Berets from the Columbus-based Company B, 2nd Battalion of the Army National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group, traveled to Central Ohio to attend the event honoring Wanner for his actions in Afghanistan during a firefight in May when he saved the life of a fellow Green Beret.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Army Maj. Gen. Gregory L. Wayt, the adjutant general of Ohio, were on hand to present Wanner with the medal. It is the first such award for an Ohio National Guard member since the Korean War.

“We are in the presence of greatness today,” Strickland said. “Many people live their entire lives wondering if they’ve made a difference. But Sergeant 1st Class Mark Wanner never has to worry about that, does he?”

Fighting back tears, Army Sgt. 1st Class Sean Clifton recounted the day he almost lost his life after being shot multiple times during a raid on a Taliban compound in eastern Afghanistan.

“I’m standing here today, alive, because of the heroic and competent actions Mark performed on the night of May 31, 2009 — Memorial Day,” Clifton said.

The previous week, Clifton and his team had received word that a known Taliban leader soon would be meeting with about a half dozen Taliban fighters in a nearby village.

After waiting for five days with what Wanner referred to as “tactical patience,” the team received word that their target was in position. It had been training with their Afghan counterparts for nearly five months, and the plan was to allow the Afghans to take the lead and for the U.S. soldiers to follow closely behind.

But when the team approached the village, the Afghans already were in trouble, and the situation was deteriorating quickly. They had expected five or six Taliban fighters, but there were at least 30. They reacted immediately.

“I led some guys into a doorway, and that just happened to be the room that had 80 percent of the threat,” Clifton said. “I knew something wasn’t quite right. Then I got hit.”

Clifton had taken at least four rounds. The first entered his pelvis just below his body armor, the second hit the chest plate of his body armor, the third shattered his left forearm, and the last round hit his helmet, knocking off his night-vision goggles.

When he saw his injured arm and realized his rifle had dropped in front of him, Clifton knew he was in trouble.

He headed back out and almost immediately ran into Army Sgt. 1st Class Matt Scheaffer, a team medic. Wanner, the team’s senior medic, realized Clifton was hit and immediately ran to assist Scheaffer.

Rounds splashed the ground around them as they began working on their wounded comrade. Realizing the danger to their patient, they quickly dragged him around to what they assumed was the safer side of the building.

As the two medics continued to work on Clifton, Wanner began to realize the extent of his patient’s wounds. Wanner knew they couldn’t move Clifton unless they had a stretcher, so he ran to the vehicle to retrieve one. As the medic returned, the group began receiving fire from a window about 15 feet away, forcing them to press up against the wall of the building.

As he continued to work on Clifton, Wanner coordinated suppressing fire on the window and told Scheaffer to grab a fragmentation grenade.

Wanner kept on the back of his body armor and tossed the grenade into the room from which they were taking fire. The tactic worked. It subdued the enemy long enough to allow the medics to race Clifton to a vehicle for evacuation.

Wanner continued to provide life-saving care as they bounced across the desert to a medical evacuation site, avoiding the main routes they knew to be laced with roadside bombs.

When the medical evacuation helicopters arrived, Wanner boarded the one carrying his patient, and he didn’t leave until Clifton was transported to the U.S. Army hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, three days later.

“He was there every step of the way, ensuring I was receiving the best possible care,” Clifton said of Wanner’s actions. “He assisted the flight surgeon in the medevac, the trauma surgeons in the [operating room], and even helped out a wounded soldier that lay next to me. That’s Mark, … always going over and above the call of duty.”

Wanner, a North Dakota resident, spent nine years in his home state’s National Guard before joining the Ohio National Guard in 2000, when he accepted a job as a researcher with the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine.

In 2003, he left his job at the university to begin two years of Special Forces qualification and specialized language and medical training. When he moved back to North Dakota, he did not even consider leaving his Ohio National Guard Special Forces unit.

“I find it remarkable that he travels every month to train with these men right here,” Wayt said. “That speaks to the brotherhood that exists inside this unit.”

Throughout nearly 20 years of service, Wanner has worked in several specialties, training initially as a vehicle mechanic, then as a carpentry and masonry specialist and combat engineer in the North Dakota National Guard before joining the Ohio National Guard and earning his Green Beret. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University in 1996 with a major in microbiology and minors in chemistry and biotechnology.

Wayt referred to Wanner as a “fixer,” who epitomizes the spirit of the Silver Star Medal.

“If you have mechanical trouble, you call Mark. If you have a house problem and you want something built or fixed, you call Mark,” Wayt said. “And as Sergeant Clifton can attest, he fixes life-threatening injuries as well.”

Wanner, who currently works building custom homes in North Dakota, shrugged off the praise.

“I was just the closest person to him that day. The real heroes are the whole team, our Afghan counterparts,” he said. “The whole team’s a hero, because everyone did their part.”

Nonetheless, Clifton credits the medic who never left his side, ensuring he made it home to his wife and two young sons.

“I’ve thanked Mark several times since that day, and his response is always the same,” Clifton said. “‘Ah, you would have done the same thing. I was just doing my job.’”

DoD
By Army 2nd Lt. Kimberly Snow
Special to American Forces Press Service