(Host) "Task Force Green Mountain Spirit" is the name the Vermont National Guard chose for its flood recovery mission in its home state.
As the mission ends and the soldiers head home, they say that spirit isn’t just something they brought with them. It’s something they found, and shared in the towns where they’ve spent the past month working.
VPR’s Susan Keese has more.
(Keese) At D & K’s store in Jamaica, two camo-clad soldiers approach the counter with drinks and snacks. But Sue Stomski, who’s working at the register, won’t take their money.
(Clerk) "That’s on us guys. Go. We just appreciate the fact that you’re here.
(Man) "Are you sure ma’am?
(Clerk) "We’re positive!"
(Almy) "Are you sure? We can pay."
(Clerk) "No. No. Go. It’s been wonderful. We appreciate the fact that you’re here."
(Soldiers) "Thank you very much."
(Keese) Karen Ameden owns the store. She says many Guard members are earning less helping out here than they would at their civilian jobs.
(Ameden) "They come in here and whatever they want, we tell them to just take it out the door."
(Keese) Specialist Steve Newton says his unit has been showered with meals and home-baked goodies.
(Newton) "It was incredible to see the joy that people felt when we arrived. It was like, ‘The Cavalry’s here.’"
(Keese) Newton is a heavy equipment operator with the 131st Engineers. Part of that company worked in Cavendish, along with the Vermont Air Guard.
Newton’s group, which is staying at Mount Snow, worked its way up Route 100, opening up roads in Wilmington and Wardsboro.
They’ve spent the past few weeks in the hills above Jamaica, in the town’s last unreachable area. Newton says the work is its own reward.
(Newton) "It feels good, because people can’t even get to their homes and we’re helping them out building their roads, so that they can at least get back to where they live."
(Keese) More than 850 National Guard troops were involved in the effort at its height.
Lt. Colonel Lloyd Goodrow, the Vermont Guard’s information officer, says the mission had three stages. The first was rescue: getting people who were stranded to safety.
The second task was to take relief to towns that were isolated by the floods.
(Goodrow) "So we had to bring helicopters in and we took our high water vehicles and actually delivered food and supplies provided by FEMA."
(Keese) Because so many of Vermont’s helicopters were overseas, Goodrow says, Guard Units from New Hampshire and Illinois stepped in with Black Hawks and Chinooks that delivered an estimated ten tons of food, water and supplies.
The final phase, the one that’s ending now, was restoring infrastructure and highways. Goodrow says Guard units from all over the country – Maine, Ohio, Virginia — arrived with dump trucks and construction vehicles that helped rebuild a foundation for the ruined roads.
(Goodrow) "So that when the final process is done by the state, there’s something to work with."
(Keese) At the makeshift barracks at Mount Snow, Sgt. 1st Class Brian Lynch praised the way the Guard, private contractors and communities pulled together.
(Lynch) "We’ve had a wonderful reception. Everyone beeps and waves and it feels good."
(Keese) Lynch, who’s served in Iraq, says the Guard would do the work anyway. But it’s nice to be appreciated.
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.