Deployment of area Army National Guardsmen and Army Reservists to Guatemala

DateJanuary 8 1994

Donor-supplied Notes[Transcript of papers provided with the collection] 121st Public Affairs Detachment Maine Army National Guard Camp Keyes, Augusta, ME 0433 207-626-4455 or Major Barry 626-4335 Video Tape Information Tape Time / Activity Background 70 members of Task Force Dirigo left Sunday (January 9, 1994), from Pease Air National Guard Facility in Portsmouth, NH, for a major engineering and medical training exercise in Guatemala. The Task Force is the first of 4,500 Army National Guard and Army Reserve troops from eight northeastern states to participate in operation Fuertes Caminos 94. Fuertes Caminos 94 - a combined engineering and medical exercise to be held in Guatemala involving soldiers from the Active Army, Army Reserve and National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, and U.S. Navy Personnel, as well as representatives of the Guatemalan ministries of health and education, and the Guatemalan Armed Forces. The focus of the exercise is the repair and upgrade of selected roads, schools, and medical facilities, and drilling water wells to assist the government of Guatemala in improving the overall quality of life in the country. The weekend airlift on a C-5A transport jet was composed mostly of soldiers from the Maine Army National Guard and the 94th Army Reserve Command based at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. serving as Task Force Dirigo who will establish and staff the site for six months. During the six months, other units will deploy for two-week rotations. 0:28 Brigadier General Donald Marden, deputy adjutant general for the Maine Army National Guard, is interviewed. 4:11 First Lieutenant Alysia Kropp (pronounced "Crop"), 121st Public Affairs Detachment, serving with Task Force Dirigo, is interviewed 6:41 C-5A transport undergoing de-icing procedures prior to take off. 8:16 Equipment and personal gear being loaded onto the transport. 9:32 Interior of the transport showing equipment tied down for flight to Guatemala. 10:19 Guardsmen loading onto the waiting C-5A transport for their flight to Guatemala. The Saturday flight was postponed, because of the storm, until Sunday.