Over 100 members from the 1437th Engineer Company of the Michigan Army National Guard took advantage of the sunny weather Saturday for bridge training operations on the St. Marys River.
They took over Mission Point boat launch for several hours launching and assembling portable bridges.
This is the first time the Army National Guard has been on the water since their exercise last fall.
A total of 126 soldiers took park, Miller said. There are 154 currently at the 1437th. Full strength is 183.
The primary goal of the 1437th is bridging.
"With what we have, we can build six different rafts in any given time, or we can build a full-length bridge of 206 meters, or 675 feet, depending on the situation," Miller explained.
In addition to the training, it gave the public a chance to meet and greet the soldiers and to see equipment demonstrations.
"It's really important to build that relationship with the community and try to get out there and get people to understand what we do. We have a lot of locals in our unit too, so there is a big awareness. But getting people down here to see what we do is always exciting," said Aaron Miller, Company 1st Sgt.
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