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Return to First Friday Briefing Guardsmen Set up Shop on College Campus Story by Sgt. James Sherrill
While students of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
packed up their frayed paintbrushes and pastel crayons for the summer
break, most were probably unaware that the Weston House dorm where they
lived was being turned into an operational military post. Soldiers of 78th Troop Command, who made up Task Force
Savannah during the Global Eight Economic Summit at Sea Guardsmen converged on the SCAD campus during the last week
in May and immediately put up razor wire and posted guards around the
school’s perimeter. “It was the perfect place to set up because it has a moat
and it’s already fenced in,” said Staff Sgt. John Stiner of
McDonough. McDonough was charged with guarding the SCAD’s main
entrance and worked the evening shift. “All we had to do was add extra
wire and people at the entrances and we were set to go.” As the 78th settled in, helicopters with the 148th Air
Ambulance Company buzzed overhead keeping an eye out for suspicious
activity around the campus. They and their aircrews had flown in from
Dobbins Air Reserve Base just days before the brigade arrived and
nestled their UH-1 Hueys at nearby Chattering diesel Humvees, stout military supply trucks and
long, lumbering busses filled troops poured into what was once a
tranquil campus lined with palm trees and lush garden courtyards.
Soldiers carrying M-16 rifles clambered from the busses, duffle bags
thrown over their shoulders, and helped put an end to the calm. Along with these Citizen-Soldiers came multitudes of civilian
law enforcement officers from across the state to augment It wasn’t uncommon to see Defense Force members somewhere
on the campus – their eyes heavy from the lack of sleep – working
late into the evening and performing a variety of important tasks. These
unsung heroes don’t do the things they do for money They do it simply
because they can, one SDF volunteer said. Those who reported to the SCAD for duty, after going through
a security checkpoint, had to cross the main bridge straddling the
moat-like canal at the entrance to the college’s Weston House area.
They then passed through another security check, marked by a makeshift
sign scribbled in ink that read, “All New Units Check In With the
Mayor Cell.” And indeed this “military city” did have a mayor. That
job fell to Command Sgt. Maj. Lance Rygmyr, the senior noncommissioned
officer of the 221st Military Intelligence Battalion. As mayor, Rygmyr all services in what became a small, fully
functional town – complete
with a hospital, restaurant, laundry mat, office complex and even a
church for Sunday services. Unlike his civilian counterparts, he wasn’t elected into
his position, Rygmyr said. His selection to the post most likely
happened because of his years of experience taking care of troops. It
probably also had to do with the fact that he had run “Mayor Cells”
while his unit was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he
said. “My job,” Rygmyr explained,”
“was to make sure the Soldiers living and working at the campus
had everything they needed to make themselves comfortable and to do
their mission,” he said as he looked out his office window at troops
taking a break between shifts. “What I and the chain-of-command didn’t want was for them
to have to worry about such things as mopping floors or doing kitchen
work – we want them to concentrate on the job they were here to do.”
Just as security on Savannah’s streets operated on a
24-hour basis, so did security in and around SCAD and its café. While
Soldiers in Humvees made their way through the city’s historic
district, others walked the college’s perimeter, their eyes and minds
seemed ever aware of the fact that the area around them is a high crime
district. On one particular evening, a Soldier asked 1st Sgt. Michael
Herndon, another senior NCO with the 221st, if he could go to a near by
gasoline station to buy some things he needed. Herdon said he turned
down the Soldier’s request and explained that SCAD’s gate were being
closed, and only those people involved in security operations were being
allowed on and off the campus. “That was the night before the summit officially kicked
off, and it was the night chosen by the protesters attending the summit
as their ‘night of insurrection’ – a time to cause trouble and
disrupt operations involved with the G8,” he said. “It just was not
the time for anyone who didn’t need to by out to be on the street.” When the sun finally peeked through the palms the next
morning and after several gallons of coffee had been guzzled by Soldiers
on duty the night before began to wear off, it was clear the infamous
night of insurrection had passed without a hitch. Perhaps it was partly
because of the preparation and the show of force on the streets of
Savannah, Herndon said. The tired troops on the night watch relinquished their posts
to the day shift and stammered off to their dorm rooms, where they could
lay down their gear on the awkward drawing tables and get some rest on
clean sheets - thanks to the support staff at the SCAD. |
