Ohio National Guard News

1483rd Transportation Company
helping with Puerto Rico recovery

Story by Maj. Brett Walker, 65th Press Camp Headquarters

Army National Guard member transport military cargo trucks with food and water via landing craft.

Photos by Spc. Alysia Brewster, 65th Press Camp Headquarters

Army National Guard members from Ohio and Puerto Rico work together to supply the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico with food and water on Nov. 4, 2017. Soldiers from the 1483rd Transportation Company, out of Walbridge, Ohio, have been helping support the Puerto Rican government's recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria.

Army National Guard member transport  supplies via landing craft.
Army National Guard member transport military cargo trucks with food and water via landing craft. Army National Guard member transport  supplies via landing craft.

Spc. Anthony Daykin ground guides a truck carrying supplies onto an Army landing craft.

Spc. Anthony Daykin ground guides a truck carrying supplies onto an Army landing craft Nov. 4, 2017, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico.

Sgt. Carlos J. Seguinot conducts a safety brief while on an Army landing craft.

Sgt. Carlos J. Seguinot (right), of the Landing Craft Detachment, Puerto Rico National Guard, conducts a safety brief while on an Army landing craft Nov. 4, 2017, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico.


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (11/04/17) — Soldiers from the 1483rd Transportation Company, out of Walbridge, Ohio, have been helping support the Puerto Rican government’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 hurricane that struck the island Sept. 20.

For Spc. Anthony Daykin, a truck driver assigned to the 1483rd, it’s his first deployment with the Army.

“The best part of serving in Puerto Rico is spending time with the locals and seeing the relief of the families,” he said.

Daykin and his fellow Soldiers have been stationed at the military station at Roosevelt Roads in the municipality of Ceiba, but perform missions across the island and beyond. Their most recent mission actually took them off the main island of Puerto Rico to the smaller island of Vieques.

Vieques is an island east of Puerto Rico inhabited by about 14,000 people. On Nov. 4, Daykin and his unit filled two military cargo trucks with food and water. They then drove the trucks onto an Army (yes, Army) mechanized landing craft vessel, which then transported them across the water to Vieques. Once at Vieques, unit members drove the food and water to a town where they distributed it to the Puerto Rican people in need.

The work in Puerto Rico has created strong bonds between the Soldiers of 1483rd and the civilian emergency response personnel with whom his unit is partnered. U.S. military forces, including the active component, National Guard and Reserve, have been deployed across Puerto Rico to support the Puerto Rican government and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in recovering from the effects of multiple powerful storms that struck the island this summer.

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