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Open house reveals multifaceted mission of National Guard
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Marty Greggo of Austintown practices target shooting Sunday with Army Specialist Sean Clancy, from Akron, during the Ohio Army National Guard B Co., 237th Brigade Support Battalion open house.
By Sean Barron
AUSTINTOWN
Many people instinctively and automatically equate military service with combat missions and trying to survive on the battlefield.
But Sgt. 1st Class Samuel J. Wolford will be the first to tell you that the National Guard is about a lot more.
Most Guard personnel also spend time hosting charity drives, participating in humanitarian efforts and taking part in community functions. In addition many soldiers have special training in maintenance and supply roles, as mechanics and as logistics specialists, which includes delivering water, food and ammunition where needed, Wolford noted.
Giving the public a broader understanding of the National Guard’s multifaceted functions was part of the drive behind Sunday’s open house gathering at the Ohio National Guard Armory, 475 Victoria Road.
The Guard participates in local, federal and national missions, Wolford explained, adding that soldiers were in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti shortly after the January 2010 earthquake.
“We [also] want people to meet us and get to know each other … and we can thank the community for supporting us,” he said, referring to another reason behind the five-hour open house. “It’s appreciation on both sides.”
Certainly one of those filled with appreciation and gratitude for the Guard units was Marty Greggo of Austintown, who served in the Ohio National Guard from 1955 to 1967.
“The best and the brightest, that applies to these kids,” said Greggo, who was activated in 1959 to assist with flood-relief efforts in Warren and who in July 1966 was deployed to help with crowd control during the Hough-Glenville riots in Cleveland, which began with a disagreement between a white caf owner and a black woman and led to a week’s worth of violence and turmoil.
From 1955 to 1962, Greggo served in Company D, 145th Infantry Regiment, 37th Division and, between 1962 and 1967, in Troop F, 107th Armored Calvary. Today he’s a member of the World War II Heritage Group, an organization founded by David Frank that meets monthly and honors WWII veterans.
An estimated 70 soldiers from B Company 237th Brigade Support Battalion and the 838th Military Police unit were on hand for Sunday’s open house.
Among the event’s main attractions were a self-sustaining expandable van, a contact truck mostly for vehicle repairs, a forward-repair system, a virtual-convoy operations training vehicle and two armored four-wheel military vehicles.
Getting a firsthand look at one of the military vehicles was 7-year-old Elizabeth Smith of Girard, who was with her cousin, Spc. Robert P. Pluche of Akron.
The 5-ton expandable van expands and contracts from the sides, can be deployed anywhere and is used as a traveling office, Wolford noted.
“It’s like a maintenance toolshed on wheels. You can work on any vehicle with this,” said Staff Sgt. Najee Muhammad, referring to the forward-repair system, which has a series of clamps, welding supplies, safety equipment, torque and numerous other types of wrenches, pneumatic power tools, drills and a generator.
Muhammad, a senior mechanic, noted that the vehicle is often lifted onto a 33.5-foot-long palletized load-system truck and transported where needed.
The open house also featured several training simulators, such as a laser-convoy ambush-training system that let attendees practice their marksmanship.
Spc. Sean Clancy gave participants M4 and M16 rifles, after which they shot at pop-up targets various distances away that resembled small busts.