910th heads to Guyana

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From left: Staff Sgt. Kyle Knox of Columbus; Master Sgt. Karen Satterfield; and Tech. Sgt. Bill Manley

By Sean Barron

Such outreach efforts also foster good relations between this country and South America, one reservist said.

VIENNA — Tech. Sgt. Bill Manley is a school official preparing to embark on his first trip to South America, but it won’t be to advocate for his district’s schools.

Instead, it will be to help build one.

“I’m very excited; I’ve never done anything like this,” Manley said Monday at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station shortly before leaving on a humanitarian mission to build a school in Georgetown, Guyana.

Manley, of Atwater in Portage County, is a human-resources coordinator for the Twinsburg city schools near Cleveland. He’s also part of the 910th Airlift Wing Civil Engineer squadron — and one of an estimated 49 reservists to take part in the Guyana mission.

Nineteen airmen make up the first unit of the 910th’s Citizen Airmen that was to leave early today for Guyana. An advance team arrived there June 22 to set up the site for the rest of the troops participating in the outreach effort.

Georgetown has two schools, but both are dilapidated or in disrepair, he explained. So one goal of the mission is to build a 2,800-square-foot facility to allow youngsters to learn in a safer environment, Manley noted.

Additionally, military personnel participating in such missions can foster and reinforce positive relations between the United States and South American countries, he continued.

“This way, other countries don’t look at [military personnel] as bad guys,” Manley added.

Also honored to help the town’s children is Master Sgt. Karen Satterfield of Elkton, who‘s also a member of the 910th Civil Engineer squad.

“It makes you feel so good to help these [children]. We take a lot for granted here, but when you go into one of these poor countries, the kids appreciate kind gestures,” said Satterfield, who’s served 26 years in the military.

Being part of humanitarian efforts is nothing new to Satterfield, who went to Honduras about 10 years ago to take clothing and help build schools after devastating floods and mudslides. Satterfield’s travels also took her to Florida, where she assisted after a hurricane.

For this effort, Satterfield said, she will serve as a heavy-equipment operator. The first two weeks of the mission will see bricks and other materials being brought in, she noted.

The first leg of the work could be finished by mid-July, Satterfield and Manley said. Neither could say how many students or what grades the school will serve.

This marks the first time the 910th Civil Engineer squadron has supported an outreach effort of this type. The reservists are to be in Guyana until Aug. 15.

They will be joining forces with the 555th Red Horse Unit from Nellis Air Force Base, just north of Las Vegas.