Lemmon leaders trying to reverse armory closure

In studying on the issues of closing Lemmon Armory I have found that a soldier that lives in Lemmon or the surrounding area could transfer to Hettinger, or Mott ND and join the engineers thier. from what I have found and how I understand it, if the soldier lives more that 50 miles from his unit due to his civilian job, He can transfer to a closer unit. This means if even 2 or 3 soldiers decide to make that move so they don't have a 170 mile drive to Guard Drill one way (by witch the money is out of the soldiers pocket) They can do just that. Then the South Dakota National Guard is out soldiers. They might be able to recruit new ones from their more populated areas but they will have to pay for the new soldier trainning and account for the exsperiance lost.
from talking to soldiers from the 842nd Eng. Co. I understand that they have the potential of being deployed in the year 2010 the soldier made it very clear that nothing is set is stone and that they do not at this time have a clue if it will happen or not. So I can understand the leaderships side of wanting soldiers to drill in an area where they can get trainning as a company in hole and not just at a platoon level. However the potential of possibly losing good soldiers to another state is their also.

Reading the comment above I can see the point which is trying to be made. I was part of the Lemmon Guard unit for 9 years, and if you have never played a role within the SDARNG then you might not know the benefits that come with it. You are not only a member of the United States Army or the SDARNG, but within the unit of Lemmon SD there is are special bonds that form among the Soldiers (and this happens in all units in small communities). You have to become a team and a family. If you don't, it makes it really hard to make it through the situations that we had to face when we were away from our real families. The comfort that was there when we were deployed, knowing that the people you have known for years and only being with them 1 weekend a month and two weeks a year they were the only family that we had and you knew you were safe. And to have to see that Lemmon was on the list to be closed down, I can honestly say that I seen it coming, and I know I'm not the only one. Just within the 9 years that I was there, we went from building bridges to possibly being Military Police to Water Purification (with no equipment to purify water) to Heavy Construction, that is alot of changes for a unit to go through in that short amount of time. So all in all, yes it is sad to see it go away, but it's not our choice. It's a new day and all of the Soldiers will be taken care of in a new place with a new "Guard Family." There is no better place to be a Soldier than in the South Dakota National Guard!