Rock Hill National Guard soldiers headed to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria recovery

As many as 150 National Guard soldiers from area armories headquartered in Rock Hill are heading to Puerto Rico to help with Hurricane Maria recovery.

The soldiers from the Army National Guard 178th Combat Engineer Battalion - many are Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans - will be part of a multi-state task force, said Lt. Col. Cindi King, spokesperson for the S.C. National Guard.

Puerto Rico is in need of construction and other heavy equipment, and the 178th has both the equipment and the soldiers trained for the mission, King said.

“Puerto Rico has critical needs of engineering assets that the 178th has,” King said.

Gov. Henry McMaster made the announcement Thursday afternoon.

“The people of Puerto Rico have had our thoughts and prayers throughout this devastating and trying time, and now they will have the dedicated men and women of South Carolina’s Army National Guard working side by side with them to restore their homes and get them back on their feet,” the governor said.

Puerto Rico is an American territory with almost 3.5 million U.S. citizens. Since the hurricane battered the island last week, millions have been without power and other critical resources.

A group of 100 to 150 guardsmen will join with soldiers from Texas, Louisiana and other states assisting in Puerto Rico, King said.

The 178th Engineers is headquartered at the Rock Hill armory and has more than 600 soldiers at armories in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Chester and Lancaster, as well as other armories near Spartanburg and Charleston.

Soldiers at the Rock Hill armory are preparing equipment and vehicles.

King and Capt. Paul Reed, of the headquarters in Rock Hill, said soldiers and vehicles will be readied over the next two days.

It is unclear how long the mission will last.

Dozens of Lancaster 178th soldiers were deployed for a month last year around South Carolina after Hurricane Matthew.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, 178th soldiers were deployed in several mobilizations to Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas missions, as well as domestic missions including building parts of the border wall with Mexico.

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Rock Hill National Guard soldiers headed to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria recovery."