Operation Rising Water

The oldest complaint of any Soldier, from time immemorial is "this isn't what I signed up for." That cuts across cultures, eras, time zones, duties, and ranks. The one place where you'll never hear that, however, is from a State National Guardsman responding to a domestic emergency -- for many, that's the whole point of joining, and it's a legitimate reason to prefer Guard service over the Reserves or even the active duty component. The italicized portion below is a cut-and-paste job concerning Operation Rising Water.

 Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick placed the Massachusetts National Guard on alert yesterday (Sunday, March 29, 2010) to prepare for the potential flood that may result from the predicted rain storm expected over the next three days.

 The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency requested the assistance of the Massachusetts National Guard in filling and transporting sandbags.

 MANG Soldiers worked throughout the night delivering 1,200 pre-filled emergency sandbags from Camp Edwards to Littleton and filling an additional 2,000 sandbags at the State Highway Department in Lexington.

 The Massachusetts National Guard will coordinate the movement of filled sand bags from Lexington to areas of need determined by MEMA.

 The immediate tasks the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency gave to the MA National Guard have been successfully completed and the National Guard continues to fill, load and haul sand bags from Camp Edwards on Cape Cod to Lexington and Littleton. The MA National Guard will continue to be available if the need arises.

 The MA National Guard consists of dedicated citizen Soldiers and Airmen that are ready to answer the call to duty in support of communities across the commonwealth.

 The National Guard answered the call and remains ready to respond if called upon as it has for the past 373 years.

 The Guard has resources to provide power generation, water, security, communications, shelter and perform welfare checks if needed.

 The Massachusetts National Guard is Always-Ready-Always-There to serve the people of Massachusetts and support civil authorities in flood affected areas if called upon.

Since the first day of the emergency, the MA National Guard has:

• Deployed more than 50 Soldiers and Airmen to conduct emergency operations

• MANG Soldiers are working around-the-clock to transport, fill and haul sandbags in support of potential flooding.

• As the region braces for potential flooding, the Guard stands ready to render further assistance if called upon.

• Anticipating the pending rainfall, the Guard is preparing and placing additional equipment and forces strategically for quick reaction in the event we are called upon.

• The MA National Guard is proud to be participating in this mission and will continue to support its neighbors as it has for the past 373 years.