BETHEL — A statewide effort is under way to restore the presence of the National Guard in rural Alaska communities.
Former Bethel resident Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Hildreth is leading the Rural Guard Initiative, which seeks to promote guard participation in the state’s remote and rural communities, KYUK-FM reported. He was assigned to the project by the adjutant general of Alaska, Gen. Laurie Hummel.
“We recognized that rural participation in the guard was dwindling,” said Hildreth. “It was her desire to try to get more guard participation out in some of these rural and remote communities. The Rural Initiative is to attempt to try to regain some of that participation out in these communities.”
The initiative follows the Rural Guard Commission’s recommendations. The commission was created by Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallot to find effective ways to boost the guard’s rural presence. The commission’s report points to the need to monitor 54,000 miles of Alaska coast and having guardsman in communities to provide immediate support in emergency situations.
Myron Naneng, president of the Association of Village Council Presidents, said he first noticed the decline of the National Guard during a disaster a couple of years ago.
“There was a flood at Kotlik and there was only one National Guardsman that was there in the village, and he didn’t have a lot of resources to help the rest of the community to help deal with what they were going through at the village level,” said Naneng.
In the past, guardsmen would serve as community leaders and were vital in bringing needed income into impoverished villages, said Naneng.
According to the Alaska Army National Guard, the Yukon-Kuskokwim region had about 600 active duty guardsmen in the 1980s. That figure today is less than 40.
Hildreth said the National Guard leadership plans to get village communities more involved by making information more accessible and sending in recruiters.
Bethel, Hooper Bay, Kipnuk, Quinhagak, and Kwethluk have recognized National Guard armories or detachments. Hildreth said he hopes people near those villages will enlist with the Guard so they can form squads.
