The North Dakota National Guard is working on an Innovative Readiness Training Project in Bismarck this week.
Captain Dan Murphy is the Public Affairs Officer for the North Dakota National Guard. He said the 816th Engineer Company from Dickinson is working at Fairview Cemetery to help with the cemetery expansion project.
Murphy said the 816th unit was selected because the soldiers are familiar with the equipment needed for this job. He said the soldiers use the same equipment in their job as National Guard Soldiers. Examples of the equipment are scrapers, dozers and loaders.
“In addition to being able to help out your community it provides exceptional training and they (soldiers) get a tremendous amount of hours, stick time as they call it, to operate their equipment,” Murphy said. “It’s a dual benefit, they get time to work on their war-time skills that they may need to help out the community in times of emergency,” Murphy said.
Murphy said community events like this usually take place in the summer when soldiers are at annual training. He said the projects help nonprofits or government organizations.
