Guardsmen to work on runway

The Wyoming National Guard will complete two weeks of training at the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport in August.

The Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport will get some basic improvements courtesy of the Wyoming National Guard. According to a release from the city, the national guard will train at the spaceport Aug. 7-21, with 30 troops learning to operate machinery, manage schedules and working in less-than-preferable conditions in order to level the mile-long dirt runway. Public Works Director Mark Westenscow said the national guard trains for two weeks each year with projects similar to this one.

Westenscow hopes the experience for the troops prompts the guard to return for another two weeks next summer. This arrangement is not necessarily long term, but it would be unrealistic for the troops to finish the project in a single, two-week period.

The troops will camp onsite and the city will provide some services such as dust control water tanks and portable bathrooms. The agreement benefits both the city and national guard.

When this division of the national guard is deployed, their main job is building roads, airstrips and bases. This exercise provides real-world training for the national guard members.

Westenskow said the project is one of the more realistic training projects the national guard has received and it saves the city more than $100,000. He said there are several issues with the spaceport’s runway, the biggest being the grade inaccuracy. The project will improve that runway’s grading, providing aircraft with a better surface to land on.