City Called Out The National Guard

When you have a major soccer tournament planned, and heavy rains are threatening to cause cancellations, changes of venue, and generally wreak havoc because the fields are under water, what do you do? In Barboursville, West Virginia, you call out the National Guard.

The West Virginia Gazette is reporting that a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter hovered over a soccer field for about 90 minutes, spreading out water and improving playing conditions. Len Rogers, president of the West Virginia Soccer Association, said State Senator Roger Plymale told him the only way to get the Blackhawk was to call Governor Joe Manchin ... which they did at 0715. Plymale had been instrumental in making the tournament possible by getting funding for a pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks which bisects the park where the tournament was being played.

File Photo

So, Sunday evening, the paper reports, people watched as the National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter hovered over the fields, whipping up water on the turf and pushing it aside. U.S. Youth Soccer Membership Specialist Matt Moran said he'd seen a similar situation in Oklahoma two years ago, where play was attempted after 19 straight days of rain. There, he said, a local news helicopter provided the drying wind.

And the pilots? Well, they at least got in an hour and a half's low-altitude hover practice.

FMI: http://www.wv.ngb.army.mil/