CORAOPOLIS, Pa. —
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 presently 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 mission kicked off, I didn’t know that native and indigenous peoples served within the army at the next fee than most teams, however that additionally they expertise homelessness on an exponentially larger scale,” stated Nicolia.
The IRT program matches help requests from neighborhood companions with army items that require hands-on coaching in these sorts of tasks. This permits service members from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces a option to follow their engineering commerce expertise. The IRT strives to imitate deployed circumstances, which provides army items sensible coaching whereas additionally offering long-lasting advantages for native communities throughout the nation.
“Having the ability to assemble new houses affords our service members a novel alternative to work on a number of phases of building whereas serving to others,” stated Nicolia.
From October 2021 to March 2022, Nicolia and the mission administration workforce 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 chargeable for the planning and execution efforts of this mission, from receiving and bedding down personnel to creating certain that supplies have been delivered on time in order that we might meet the expectations given to us by the housing authority,” stated Nicolia. “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 yr of the mission, which simply accomplished on August 27, 2022, achieved over 25,000 coaching hours
The work achieved by the joint workforce offered the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation with labor and tools prices equal to $1.9 million. By the point the mission ends, 21 houses can be constructed at a price financial savings near $6 million.
“Our hope was that we might honor the service and sacrifices that native veterans have made. A easy factor like a roof over somebody’s head can save their life,” stated Nicolia.
For extra details about the Revolutionary Readiness Coaching program go to: https://irt.protection.gov/ or observe this system on social media at #IRTsWin
