Forestry work helps vets ease into civilian life
Forestry work helps vets ease into civilian life
03 August 2013
published by www.wral.com
USA — After spending a year deployed with the Army in Iraq, Elder Pyatt had to adjust to civilian life when he finished his service in 2008.
Life in the military moves much faster, said Pyatt, who served to earn money for college.
“There is an adjustment period,” he said.
In the Army, Pyatt used mechanic’s tools to work on large military vehicles. This summer, he is removing limbs from beetle-killed lodgepole pine trees near Stagecoach with a chain saw, which he never really had used before.
“Not in this capacity,” Pyatt said. “Like yard work kind of stuff.”
Pyatt, whose goal is to earn a master’s degree, was joined by three other veterans and a crew leader. The group was working on U.S. Forest Service land to help create a 350-foot buffer between private land and the forest.
By removing the dead timber, the Forest Service is trying to help protect nearby homes and property should a wildfire start. Fire mitigation work is nothing new in the Routt National Forest, but this is the first time the crew of veterans has been called in to help.
“We’re glad to have everyone, and we’re definitely glad to have this crew,” Yampa district ranger Jack Lewis said on his way to meet the crew, which was staying at the Oak Creek Fire Protection District’s Stagecoach fire station.
The veterans were working for the Veterans Fire Corps under the Student Conservation Association. Although the pay is only $280 per week, the veterans could learn skills, earn certifications and gain experience to help prepare them for a post-military career in forestry or wildland firefighting.
“After I’m done with this, I’ll basically be able to be a fully qualified applicant for the job I want next season,” said aspiring wildland firefighter Craig Parker, an Army veteran who spent one year in Iraq as an infantryman.
The experience should help make the veterans attractive to future employers, particularly federal agencies.
“It’s a fairly competitive market for people looking for jobs,” said Sam Duerksen, with the Yampa Ranger District.
The training offers another option for those who might be lost or unsure after returning to civilian life.
“I do know a lot of people who don’t know what they want to do, and they don’t want to go to school,” said Toua Vang, who joined the Navy after his junior year because he was burned out with school and going through a “quarter-life crisis.”
He worked as an aviation electrician on F18 jets and now is studying pre-law at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Vang said the firefighting training is providing him with choices.
That also was the case for Army veteran Mike Bowers, who was deployed to Iraq for a year. He went on patrols, helped clear roads of improvised explosive devices and assisted with training the Iraqi police. In the fall, he will return to Miami University, where is he studying computer engineering.
“I get to hang out outside,” Bower said. “It’s a pretty interesting experience.”
It is not easy work. It is hot, manual labor, and there are endless amounts of dead limbs and slash that needed to be piled and eventually burned. After finishing three weeks of work in Routt County, the crew was headed to another job in Granby. The group also is hoping to gain experience working on a wildfire.
Aside from the Fire Corps, the Forest Service will work with prison crews, Hotshot firefighters, local fire crews and loggers to complete the work at the Morrison Creek Fuels Reduction Projects.
Forest technician Derek Egan said dead trees in an area comprising about 108 acres will be felled by hand to help create the buffer. Machinery will be brought in to remove trees in another 1,000 acres.
Depending on available money and resources, the project could take five years to complete. That also is dependent on cooperation from private landowners. Currently, the crews are accessing the forest through the Lost Elk Ranch.
“Lost Elk Ranch has been extremely helpful in allowing us access through their land,” Egan said.
