TEXAS AIR GUARD ENGINEERS TACKLE PROJECTS IN ARMENIA

US Fed News
August 27, 2009 Thursday 4:01 PM EST

YEREVAN, Armenia, Aug. 17 — The National Guard issued the following
news release:

The 149th Fighter Wing’s civil engineering squadron can now add Armenia
to the list of countries around the world where it has deployed.

At the beginning of August, 45 of the 149th civil engineers and two
medical and two public affairs personnel from the wing – flew here
from San Antonio, Texas, with some basic tools and supplies to tackle
a handful of security cooperation and humanitarian assistance projects.

"These projects not only provide excellent opportunities for our
engineers to practice their skills but also offer them experience in
deploying to a far-away, developing country and interacting with its
people," said Lt. Col. Susan Vaneau, the squadron commander. "They
have to learn how to deal with situations when tools or supplies are
not readily available."

Armenia, nestled in the south of the Caucasus Mountains, and whose
several immediate neighbors include Turkey and Iran, is an ancient
country but has been dominated by other countries for centuries. Only
since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 has a truly independent
Armenia re-emerged.

Because of the challenge of a different language and some logistical
issues, "Use your imagination" and "Be flexible" quickly became
slogans for the deployment.

The primary project was to continue work on the Expeditionary
Medical Support (EMEDS) building on the grounds of the Military
Central Hospital here. The 25 by 100-foot building dedicated to
housing medical equipment, supplies and tents that Armenian military
medical personnel who comprise the EMEDS team will use to provide
rapid response to natural disasters or military contingencies.

"We needed a separate space to store our EMEDS equipment," said
Maj. (Dr.) Ara Ghazaryan. A weapons of mass destruction expert and a
physician at the hospital, he became involved in the project because
of his fluency in English.

He noted that the EMEDS team was already formed and equipment was
temporarily stored elsewhere. "Our government and yours made an
agreement to build the building for us."

"Dr. G," as he was fondly addressed by the Texas National Guard Airmen,
also had also served as a liaison with the Kansas National Guardsmen,
who laid the concrete pad and erected the basic building during two
weeks before the Texans arrived.

"It all started in 2007, when Armenia wanted to develop its own
Expeditionary Medical Support system," said U.S. Army Maj. Michael
McCullough, chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation at the
U.S. Embassy in Armenia. "We began looking at ‘mobility’ [deployable
CEs] to build the facility."

McCullough said the EMEDS package would boost the Armenian military’s
ability to contribute to global operations.

"The facility is the first step in the certification process for
deployment," he said, adding that the EMEDS team, whose officers and
noncommissioned officers have received training in the United States,
would be deployable in 2010. "And because Armenia is in a seismic zone
[susceptible to earthquakes], the EMEDS will be a national asset for
internal emergencies as well."

The 149th CEs installed insulation and weather proofing, provided
the electrical wiring for air conditioning units and light fixtures
along with switches and outlets, and built a two-room office in the
back of the building. The engineers also had to make several trips
to the embassy to pick up materials.

Martinez, who led about half the engineers in the EMEDS project, said,
"It was good [training] for them to go to a place, have to decide
what they needed and determine how to get it."

The engineers got the job done, and on Aug. 11, they connected the
EMEDS building’s electricity and "fired it up" for Dr. G and several
representatives from the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

"The CEs did very good work," said Dr. Ghazaryan. "I watched them
… They don’t skip anything."

Dr. Ghazaryan added that once the EMEDS equipment is formally accepted,
it will be moved to the building.

Meanwhile, other 149th engineers were involved in humanitarian
assistance projects. Major McCullough said these projects addressed
specific needs identified in the immediate area. "They are a great
tie-in to developing the EMEDS," he said.

St. Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center was the site of one of the
projects, and an obvious tie-in to Armenia’s ability to respond to
large-scale emergencies. Built in 1977, the 800-bed multi-service
hospital was named after Armenia’s patron saint, who is credited for
Armenia becoming the world’s first officially Christian country.

St. Grigor’s and three other hospitals established the medical
system for the entire country. The CEs’ task was to help with the
rehabilitation of three classrooms/conference rooms for the hospital’s
Regional Training Center.

A number of nurses from St. Grigor’s studied emergency medicine in the
United States, according to Nellie Tedevosyan, chief of the hospital’s
international affairs and information department.

"Now they teach medical students emergency medicine in the pre-hospital
and hospital stages at the center," said Tedevosyan, who also served
as interpreter at the site.

The engineers’ original objectives included replacing the flooring,
but after tearing up the old flooring – about 160 square meters –
they realized extensive electrical work had to be accomplished before
further improvements could be made.

"This entailed routing the plaster walls to run the electrical wire for
the ceiling lights, wall-mounted lamps, light switches and electrical
outlets," said Master Sgt. John Montoya, noncommissioned officer
in charge of the task. "The obstacles were the language barrier and
supplies and tools needed, but the team overcame all the obstacles
and proceeded on completing the project."

Another project site was Shengavit’s Region No. 301 Nursery. What
Americans would call a children’s day care center, the nursery serves
about 150 children between 18 months and 6-1/2 years of age. It
includes learning rooms, recreation rooms, nap rooms, child-scaled
bathrooms, a kitchen and eating areas, and even a laundry room.

Nelly Mixailovna, the principal, said through her interpreter that
the two-story concrete masonry structure was built in 1983. But
Capt. Vincent Salazar, project officer for this site, said the plumbing
and wiring appeared much older or at least reflected older workmanship.

Salazar noted that the original task was to complete rehabilitation
of five rooms on the first floor. However, one thing soon led to
another. Installation of new light fixtures required new wiring,
and the new wiring required a new distribution box.

Master Sgt. David Lewis pointed out some places where old, bare wiring
had been strung along the wall.

"These things are clearly unsafe for kids," Lewis said. "If a child
touches an exposed wire …." He left the sentence uncompleted and
just shook his head.

The engineers had to put off painting the walls until they completed
the electrical work, patched walls – even reinforcing one wall panel
to keep it from falling – replaced some of the woodwork, and smoothed
down and wiped off the walls.

"They never have everything they need, but when they’re finished,
it will be beautiful," said Sergeant Lewis. "They never cease to
amaze me."

Other engineers repaired or replaced plumbing fixtures, fixed a sink
counter and stopped a leak from a tub.

"When we walked in, there were hazardous electrical conditions, and
there were two restrooms with no running water, and three toilets
that were inoperable," Captain Salazar added. "We left the place a
lot safer than when we found it.

"The occupants expressed their gratitude," he said. "When we arrived
they were staring at us; before we left, they were smiling at us."

A last site of the engineers’ projects was the Military
Aviation Institute, which the Texans called home for most of two
weeks. Armenia’s center for training its future pilots and signal
corpsmen, the austere, gated campus is located on Yerevan’s southeast
side.

Most of the engineers slept in one of three open bays, using part of
a building where Armenian cadets also billeted. A brisk walk around
the main building took them to the dining facility, where they ate
breakfast and supper, which always consisted of an assortment of
cheese, cold-cuts and fresh fruit, along with Armenian dishes that
included ingredients they couldn’t always identify.

Master Sgt. William Strodtman led the work detail to install two large
air conditioning units atop the simulator room in the institute’s main
building. Again the straight-forward tasking proved more complicated
when they had to find brackets and came up against an unexpectedly
thick, stubborn wall.

"It took hours just to drill through the wall," said Strodtman. "But
we got the job done."

As work wrapped up on all the projects, the work to redeploy
began. Despite frustrations and inconveniences to go with arduous work,
there was one day of recreation and a few brief evening excursions
to ensure happy memories of the deployment.

Most of the engineers knew it was unlikely they would ever return to
Armenia. They hoped someone else would pick up where they left off.

"Even though we had difficult challenges, all the teams considered
all the options and thought outside the box," said Martinez. "They
not only successfully completed the mission and their training,
but also bonded together as a squadron."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress