Missouri National Guard trains one weekend a month for lifesaving skills

FULTON, Mo. -- Bitter wind buffeted the sides of the Humvee, and the metal doors clanked as the vehicle hit a pothole. Vents just below the windshield and next to the M-16 rifle clamps yielded scarcely a thin breath of warmth. A gritty film of dirt covered every surface.

The boxy vehicle motored down the highway in a caravan of about 10 similar vehicles, passing homes and schools scattered along the Callaway County countryside.

By all appearances, this military convoy could have been ready to roll into occupied territory. Instead, it turned off the road at a Phillips 66 station on the outskirts of Fulton.

The olive-green Humvees seemed out of place at the Fulton gas station, but members of the Guard, many of whom have civilian jobs, blend easily into society -- except for one weekend each month and two weeks each year when they train to prepare for natural disasters, riots and combat overseas.

The Missouri National Guard has about 11,000 members, 15 percent of whom are female, serving 60 communities across the state. Missourians are eligible to sign up for duty between the ages of 17 and 62, and the Guard "spans those ages pretty well," said Capt. Tammy Spicer, the state public affairs officer.

There are now 540 Missouri Guardsmen serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About 150 members of the Guard gathered for training earlier this year at the Fulton Armory. Guardsmen are paid for their time on duty, and the scale is based on rank and years in the Guard.

Outside the armory, several members braved the cold for an impromptu lesson on radio communication from Sgt. First Class Brian Kirkpatrick.

A large metal radio sat on the hood of a Humvee, and Kirkpatrick instructed Guard members how to store and save frequencies. Each person got a chance to speak through the receiver to a Guard member in a Humvee across the yard.

After lunch, about 20 Guard members headed out from the drill floor to one of the smaller rooms in the armory to learn combat first aid techniques.

Sgt. Jason Bird told his group they would learn to bandage a wounded soldier's laceration and how to deal with abdominal injuries.

No one flinched as he described what to do if a fellow soldier had shrapnel lodged in an open gut wound or how to retrieve spilled intestines and place them in plastic on a wounded comrade's chest before he is loaded into a helicopter.

They had heard the lecture before.

"This is basic, basic skill-level stuff," said Sgt. Justin Collis, who graduated in May from the University of Missouri-Columbia. "We repeat these situations over and over, so basically it's just a reaction when it really happens."

After Bird and Spc. John Knight demonstrated how to lift and drag a fellow soldier out of a damaged Humvee and how to remove someone from an area receiving heavy gunfire, a "hot zone," the group went outside to practice the skills.

In teams of three, guardsmen dragged and carried each other over the yard of the armory through a muddy mixture of grass and snow that refused to melt.

Bird encouraged Spc. Dannyell Canady and Spc. James Tarr to lift and carry a much larger Sgt. Jamie Frates. Though they struggled, they were able to lift and carry Frates down the sidewalk using techniques Bird had taught them.

Group members agreed they felt safer after the drill, knowing that their teammates could get any member out of a dangerous situation.

"If something happens, regardless of who you are, you know that these people can take care of you," Canady said. "I know they could pick me up and drag me out."

During his tour of duty in Iraq, Tarr used those skills to help an Iraqi soldier who had been shot at a checkpoint.

"He was screaming and hollering," Tarr said of the wounded man. "I carried him to a bunker about 50 yards away." Tarr cut off the soldier's pants and bandaged the wound.

While playing with a mini basketball at a table on the drill floor, Tarr talked about his Iraq duty. An Arkansas guardsman at the time, in October 2003, Tarr trained at Fort Hood, Texas, for duty in Iraq. Once in Baghdad, he led a team assigned to train Iraqi National Guardsmen.

"Training was fun," he said, noting that interpreters from a university in Baghdad helped bridge the language barrier. Many Iraqis "were excited to do this," Tarr said. "They wanted to be happy for what they were doing to protect their country. But there were a few doing it for the money, too."

Tarr, now 25, also was assigned to checkpoints throughout the city.

"Baghdad traffic is like L.A. traffic," he said. "It's packed. And the lights don't work, and there are no speed limits. You have someone going 50 miles an hour and behind them someone going 5 miles an hour."

He said two soldiers in his unit died when a car bomb exploded at one of the checkpoints.

Tarr said he spent time in Tikrit and Sadr City, where his convoy would often hear the "ting ting" of bullets against the sides of their Humvees.

After Tarr returned to the United States, he moved to Missouri. He now lives in Jefferson City and works for Cumulus Radio Broadcasting. He is engaged and has a 21/2-year-old son.

Looking to the future, Tarr creates room for both civilian and military possibilities. He would like to get on the radio, possibly co-host a show.

He knows, however, that he might be sent back overseas soon, and he is at ease with that option.

"I don't mind going back," he said, sitting back in his chair. "I have a little boy and a fiancee. They would miss me, yeah, but I know I am protecting them."