CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (AFNS) —
A Pennsylvania Air Nationwide Guardsman with the 171st Air Refueling Wing led the development of seven houses for tribal members of Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, who’re at present experiencing homelessness.
Senior Grasp Sgt. Mark Nicolia, the operations superintendent with the 171st Civil Engineer Squadron led the planning effort and the primary portion of the Cherokee Veterans Housing Initiative throughout the spring and summer time of 2022. This initiative is a three-year effort and is a part of the Division of Protection’s Revolutionary Readiness Coaching program, which can assemble 21 houses for tribe members experiencing homelessness who’re additionally U.S. armed forces veterans.
“Earlier than this venture kicked off, I didn’t know that native and indigenous peoples served within the army at a better price than most teams, however that in addition they expertise homelessness on an exponentially increased scale,” Nicolia mentioned.
The IRT program matches help requests from neighborhood companions with army models that require hands-on coaching in these varieties of initiatives. This permits service members from all branches of the U.S. armed forces a method to apply their engineering commerce abilities. The IRT strives to imitate deployed situations, which provides army models lifelike coaching whereas additionally offering long-lasting advantages for native communities throughout the nation.
“Having the ability to assemble new houses provides our service members a singular alternative to work on a number of phases of development whereas serving to others,” Nicolia mentioned.
From October 2021 to March 2022, Nicolia and the venture administration crew coordinated coaching for over 300 service members from six completely different branches of the army, which helped improve their expertise and mission readiness whereas concurrently serving the individuals of Cherokee Nation.
“We have been liable for the planning and execution efforts of this venture, from receiving and bedding down personnel to creating certain that supplies have been delivered on time in order that we may meet the expectations given to us by the housing authority,” Nicolia mentioned. “The housing authority and the tribal management have been terrific companions alongside us within the army. Any time we had questions on design or wanted supplies or items of heavy tools on the fly, they responded in order that we by no means misplaced a day of coaching.”
The second 12 months of the venture, which simply accomplished on August 27, completed over 25,000 coaching hours.
The work completed by the joint crew offered the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation with labor and tools prices equal to $1.9 million. By the point the venture ends, 21 houses will probably be constructed at a value financial savings near $6 million.
“Our hope was that we may honor the service and sacrifices that native veterans have made,” Nicolia mentioned. “A easy factor like a roof over somebody’s head can save their life.”
