Army Nat’l Guard completes KMC construction projects

***image1***Construction projects are getting done throughout KMC Army kasernes thanks to the 204th Engineer Battalion, an Army National Guard unit based at Binghamton, N.Y.

About 40 Soldiers from the battalion arrived April 24 and will be here until May 14 to complete seven construction projects at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Miesau Army Depot, Daenner Kaserne and Kaiserslautern Industrial Center.

“These Soldiers help out in our overall mission to complete more projects in the KMC,” said Master Sgt. David A. Heiny, 415th Base Support Battalion Directorate of Public Works operations sergeant. “It also helps our contractor (ITT Federal Service GmbH Kaiserslautern) because they can do other projects and provide better services to the 415th BSB and KMC.”

This is the second rotation from this battalion to the KMC. The first rotation was here April 3 to April 24 and worked on six construction projects at KIC, Rhine Ordnance Barracks and Daenner Kaserne. This rotation will replace concrete and steel stairs, build a parking lot and finish a pavilion.

The unit just installed a handicap ramp Thursday at the Landstuhl Community Club.

“The ramp is already prefabricated, but our plans to just install the ramp have changed since they projected this project,” said Sgt. Kirk L. Kuntzlemann, 204th Engineer Battalion mechanic and NCOIC of the Landstuhl handicap ramp project. “We actually have to do a regular concrete pour because the concrete underneath is so deteriorated.”

The DPW and its contractor design the projects that the Army National Guard units will do here during their three-week deployment. Projects are selected based on training value, capability of the unit, type of construction and time of completion of the project, said Sergeant Heiny.

Every summer Army National Guard units deploy here to work on construction projects that can be completed in less than three weeks; but last year, the units did not come here due to deployment to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Sergeant Heiny.