Michigan National Guard bridge company fills up school lot here

IRONWOOD - The Luther L. Wright School parking lot would normally be deserted on a late July day, but it was the scene of 38 huge military vehicles on Thursday evening.

Area residents can rest assured there was no local invasion.

The Michigan Army National Guard 1437th Multi-Role Bridge Company stopped in Ironwood after three weeks of training in Minnesota, south of Brainerd, on the Mississippi River.

Company Commander Alek Willson said the training, including 12-hour days, was at Camp Ripley, Minn., and some bridge-building techniques were used that "hadn't been practiced in awhile, and never at Camp Ripley." He described an "overhead anchorage" type of bridge structure that was employed.

This year's exercise was also unique in that it had never been attempted with so much equipment, Willson said.

Many of the soldiers in the company were previously deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for bridge-building, with the last returning from overseas in 2010, according to Willson.

He showed pictures on his cellphone of the large bridges that were constructed across the Mississippi River. He said the bridges were then disassembled.

The company was headed back to Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday, with some brats and hotdogs cooking on the grill before the 38-vehicle caravan and 92 people prepared to head out for the last leg of the 600-mile trip, quite a sight to see on Upper Peninsula roadways.

Willson explained that the caravan can only reach a speed of 45 mph, so a great deal of planning is required before making any trip.

He said the unit typically has a major exercise once a year and termed this year's training as highly successful.