Thanks for posting this. I found it very interesting and it closely reflected experiences I've had with similar efforts.

At the Smiths Falls Railway Museum, we have been assisted twice by the Canadian Military Engineers with large tracklaying projects. Railway construction and repair was a big part of the Engineers' duties in wartime, and they were glad to expose their current men and women to the skills they might need in the future.

Both occasions involved 30-45 personnel, a backhoe-loader, and several trucks. As with the WW&F project, we were asked to have the site prepared and material sorted, as well as having some volunteers on hand to show the soldiers how to build track.

It's amazing how fast track goes together when so many motivated people are working together! It's wise to have several smaller jobs waiting as well, as they will want to keep everybody busy through the working hours.

Both sessions resulted in a job very well done, and a great time was had by all- both civilian and military. The sight of numerous military vehicles surrounding a museum is bound to intrigue the press, resulting in great publicity for both the museum and military.

This sort of exercise can be a great boost to a museum. We're a bit reluctant to ask while so many of our troops are in Afghanistan, and look forward to the day when they can come home.

In the US, you might still have enough resources at home that this type of exercise can continue. It's well worth asking!

Steve Hunter

I urge all museums and preservation groups to contact the local Army or Air National Guard base, or even drop a hard copy letter to a local Navy, Marine, or Coast Guard, base for assistance with difficult construction or preservation projects. Troops are required to stay in practice and contributing to local projects such as shed construction, asbestos abatement, ballast movement, loading equipment on flatbeds, and bridge construction, are not out the realm of capability for service people. It's great PR for them, it give the workers a sense of pride and lasting accomplishment, and it's something our service people can do for their own people in the USA.
The only negative is they may say "no". Otherwise it can be a win-win situation.

That's an excellent writeup, that put everyone involved in good light. And it gave the Marine engineers experience they would not ordinarily get with their usual civic help projects. Today's military is a lot different than the one I was drafted into and it's too bad so many of our citizen soldiers aren't coming home alive from the mess in Iraq.

Very nice article, and an excellent win-win.

You guys sure eat good up there - sort of the Maine version of low country boil.

dave

So Dave, when are you going to come visit?

An excellent example of using a mission specific training exercise to meet a real world need.

I should note for the record that:

1. My father wore, and my son wears, that particular uniform; and,

2. At the time that Maine was a part of Massachusetts, it was considered cruel, and had therefore been made illegal by colonial statute, for inmates to be fed lobster (then considered vermin) more than three times per week. It was, however, considered adequate fare for Sailors and Marines of the Colonial Navy!

GME