Latest news with #201stFieldArtilleryRegiment
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Fairmont's National Guard unit travels to southern W.Va. to help with floods
FAIRMONT — Two members of the 201st Field Artillery Regiment are doing their part to help with the recent flooding in the southern part of the state. 'It's slow going,' Master Sgt. Jonathan Broyles said. 'We're still coordinating with all the civilian sides. We're working with all kinds of law enforcement, DNR, they're pushing out relief packages, water supplies, cleaning supplies, to different locations throughout the county.' Broyles said they're currently in McDowell County. Broyles was unsure how long it was going to take to clean up from the flooding. At one point, only 30% of the county had water, he said. 'Once we get an area that needs to be cleaned, we send out the teams,' Broyles said. 'We call the loader dump teams. They will go out to the site, they'll assess the situation. They'll start moving debris with skid steers and they'll work with the state — bring in Bobcats and whatnot to help load it up onto their dump trucks. They'll take the dumps to the local landfills and remove the debris.' Several inches of rain piled onto pre-existing rain and snow, flooding Mingo and McDowell counties, and impacting a few others. So far the floods killed at least 17 people. Gov. Patrick Morrisey is waiting on approval from the federal government for a disaster declaration. 'We had a truly historic weather event last week,' Morrisey said at a press conference on Thursday. 'Parts of McDowell County received 4.72 inches of rain in less than 48 hours. I don't need to describe to people here the topography of West Virginia and what happens when all the water comes in, after all the snow and rain how wet the ground is, there's really no place for the water to go but to go up.' Morrisey said the damage from the flood was more than the state could handle on its own. However, the floods occurred just as President Donald Trump has suggested the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency responsible for managing disaster relief funds, could 'go away.' Trump suggested he wants states to be responsible for their own disaster recovery. Morrisey declined to answer a question at the press conference if he was concerned about the Trump administration's push to eliminate federal funding for programs states like West Virginia rely on. Instead, he said his focus was on ensure that in-state systems to deal with disasters are ready. According to Mountain State Spotlight, Morrisey did not ask for any funding to the state's flood mitigation program when he submitted the state's annual budget request to the legislature. Lawmakers also haven't funded the program since its creation in 2023. According to Conservation West Virginia, the state was hit by 380 flash floods between 2019 to 2023. It's a 26% increase over the previous five year period and a 51% increase for the five year span before that. Flash floods caused 24 deaths and over $98 million in property damage from 2019 to 2023. Broyles said the current snow may not cause much of an impact to recovery efforts, but that if the rain that's in the forecast arrives, it'll slow down the relief efforts. However, he pledged to keep pushing through. 'We just need to keep praying and keep hoping that mother nature is on our side from now on,' Broyles said. 'And keep [water] to a minimum.'
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Valley Chapel UMC delivers annual Valentine's gifts to 201st Field Artillery Regiment
FAIRMONT — Even though nothing is really planned by the Marion County National Guard Armory for Valentine's Day, the women of the Valley Chapel United Methodist Church still like to make it a little special for the guards members who serve. Marcella Yaremchuk and one other member of the church stopped by Armory on Thursday armed with candy for members of the 201st Field Artillery Regiment. It's become a yearly tradition for them. 'For us here in the 201st, we've annually been getting these gifts from Miss Yaremchuk,' Maj. James Wikle said. 'We greatly appreciate them because we give them out over the weekend. This has kind of become a tradition for us here, which has been really nice.' Wikle said Valentine's Day gets a pretty standard celebration on military installations. Most soldiers try to get home to their spouses or significant others for a typical Valentine's Day date. Since Valentine's Day and President's Day fall on the same weekend this year, some of the men took a little bit of a longer weekend to take a trip into the mountains with their partners. Overall, it's a more relaxed environment, Wikle said. Lt. Cody Eversole was grateful to receive candy from the local community. 'It's really good candy too, I've seen the peanut butter M&M's,' he said. 'It's my favorite.' Eversole said he took his girlfriend out to dinner for Valentine's Day but other than that, it's business as usual. Eversole is the battalion training officer. He helps coordinate all the major training events at the armory. He also performs various administrative tasks on a part-time basis. The 201st Field Artillery Regiment is a unit with a storied history. It's been in existence since Feb. 17, 1735, it's 290th anniversary was earlier this week. The unit was part of the Continental Army and has served in every major American war since the country's inception. The unit's service record even predates the country, and it also saw action during the French and Indian War, which tilled the soil for the future American Revolution. Most recently, the unit began sending guardsmen down to the southern part of the state to assist with the flooding that's taking place there. Wikle said community involvement is important for the National Guard because it's a community based organization, that supports the local community. Building bonds between the community and the guard makes their job a lot easier, plus, it's nice to be appreciated, he said. 'Community buy-in is huge,' Eversole said. 'Not only does it remind us why we do what we do, it also helps buy-in and increase recruiting and retention.' Wikle added the 201st also does Wreath's Across America every year with Yaremchuk, and they also directly support football teams at the local high schools. Yaremchuk said the guard does more than that. They also allow groups to use the building for events, they've allowed New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day Dances in the past. 'They are the ones who are here for us locally,' Yaremchuk said. 'They're our state people who are here when we have gasoline shortages, flooding, problems of any kind. They're activated by the governor, so they're here in West Virginia. It's wonderful we have troops who are in other states, but we in Fairmont, West Virginia need to show our appreciation for our local National Guard.'
