Utah Army National Guard spends week training in Emery County

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Utah Army National Guard is in Emery County for training purposes this week. They are stationed at the Millsite State Park. They began convoying into the area on June 6 and 7 to set up their headquarters at Millsite.
Capt. Jeremy Tannahill, a former Ferron resident and graduate of Emery High, was instrumental in suggesting Emery County as a great place for training.
Training will take on many facets in the week the guard is in the county. There will be 200 soldiers attending the training. Tannahill said, “We will have survival training and escape training. As air crews in enemy territory, there are situations where you might be shot down in enemy territory or even experience mechanical trouble with your helicopter. We will be training our people to know how to react in these situations and how to stay alive. We will teach them to evade capture and how to resist interrogation. We will be working closely with the local law enforcement agencies in Emery and Carbon counties. We will be doing dual training where we act as the bad guys and try to capture their personnel and they will act as the bad guys and try to capture our people.
“We will also be doing search and rescue training out on the San Rafael Swell, we will use the Medivac to transport mock injured people. We will be doing simulated life flight training. This is going to be one of our best annual trainings. This kind of training is great for us. Things have really worked out well in being able to come to Ferron. We have had so much cooperation. We are a self-sustaining company made up of 200 people.
“Our company is broken down by letters and each division serves its own purpose for instance the D company, the Delta company takes care of the maintenance of the aircraft. They have the ability to fix any problem out in the field. The E company is the support company, they perform general maintenance and include the cooks, carpenters and they do water purification. We have a set-up staff and medics. The company is meant to be self-supporting.
“Our accommodations will be pretty basic, there are showers at the Millsite state park, that can be used. But we want our people to learn to be rough. We have to try to be tough, when we actually go into war, things are not easy. This training will not be easy. There will be survivor training. We expect they will spend one day in fox holes to evade capture. We will be pushing ourselves harder. I am in charge of this training and I want it to be challenging,” said Capt. Tannahill.
Other aspects of the soldiers visit will include military helicopter orientation for the local law enforcement, emergency medical services and search and rescue training. A community day in Ferron. A search for lost hunters in the upper Joe’s Valley area. Mock traffic accident near Emery High, mock 4-wheeler accident and lost hikers and a search for a lost child.