National Guard, Norwich community respond to terrorist attacks

By Kylee Dalmata & William Knox
Norwich Guidon Staff Writers

Since the attacks Tuesday morning in New York and Washington, American military forces have been operating on a heightened state of alert. The Vermont National Guard (VTNG) is no exception.

According to a statement issued to The Norwich Guidon by the VTNG's Public Affairs Officer, 1Lt. Jeffery Roosevelt, the Guard is currently on "heightened security."

"The Army National Guard has not been called up for support," Roosevelt said. "but, as always, the Vermont Guard is ready."

According to Roosevelt, the one mission that the VTNG has given assistance to has been the Federal Air Defense Mission, which is being carried out by members of the Vermont Air National Guard.

"This air defense role is something that our Green Mountain Boys have provided for the past 40+ years," Roosevelt said. "The role they are playing is nothing new to what they are trained to do."

The public affairs office could not release the names or total number of those who had been called up to serve for "obvious reasons," Roosevelt said.

"They are under federal control for the missions they are conducting," Roosevelt said. "Because of this federal mission, the Air National Guard has called up many traditional Airmen to come in and support what is needed to conduct these federal missions."

The support that the Vermont guardsmen and women will be providing, according to Roosevelt, includes maintenance personnel, logistics personnel, food service personnel and security personnel.

Many Norwich students have expressed hopes of going to the site of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. But statements by university and ROTC administrators make it clear that such an event would be unlikely to occur.

"In terms of deployment, in terms of mobilization, in terms of all of those things that would precipitate Norwich cadets doing something outside the norm, those thoughts are based on rumor, innuendo and hearsay. They have no basis in reality," Col. W. Scott Knoebel, Norwich University professor of military science, said Thursday.

"As far as Army ROTC is concerned, our mission is unchanged: we are here to educate students and we are here to take care of their health and welfare and to insure that the right environment is created for them to achieve academic excellence," said Knoebel.

Knoebel denounced student speculation on the possibilities of Norwich cadets being called on to help at the site of the tragedy.

"If students are speculating on the possibility of Norwich doing anything other than maintaining its charter for academic excellence and character development and leadership development for the students, they need to go to the source and ask rather than speculating on the unknown which is, in most cases, based on unfounded facts," Knoebel said.

"As far as the Army is concerned, we're going to continue to educate folks to be great leaders so that when it does come their turn to act, they are prepared to the best of their ability to exercise great judgment, great character and do what is right for the nation and the people that they are serving under," Knoebel said.

Col. Michael McKean, Norwich Vice President of Student Affairs, said that the student body could best assist by remaining in their places and carrying on their day-to-day lives.

On Tuesday, the Regimental Commander and the rest of the commandant's staff were in contact with the Vermont chapter of the American Red Cross to schedule a blood drive, but at the request of the Red Cross, the university will maintain its appointment scheduled for Oct. 9.

McKean said that it was important for the student body to remain calm and ready to support the decisions made by our national leaders, and emphasized that it was important for students to be careful regarding acts of a discriminatory nature. "I would expect everyone to use (the) good judgement and the maturity that they have," McKean said.

"We don't have any terrorists amongst us. What we have are foreign students…good, law-abiding citizens of this country or their country, and have no involvement in this whatsoever."

In a statement to the university, President Richard Schneider said there may be ways in which the university community could contribute to the disaster relief, but those needs have not surfaced yet. He urged the student body to stay on campus and to not migrate to the disaster areas. "For now, all officials are telling us not to go to these locations," he said.

For students wishing to be involved, Schneider directed all nursing and EMT volunteers to contact Marilyn Rinker, director of the Norwich University nursing program, and others interested in volunteering their efforts should contact Angie Roberts, Director of Community Service Programs.

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