{"id":432564,"date":"2025-05-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=432564"},"modified":"2025-05-02T07:10:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T07:10:27","slug":"missouri-national-guard-water-purification-team-supports-tradewinds-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=432564","title":{"rendered":"Missouri National Guard Water Purification Team Supports TRADEWINDS 25"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Sgt. Jessica Shields, a water purification specialist with the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Missouri Army National Guard, checks the chlorine levels of the water meant for cooking and cleaning laundry during TRADEWINDS 25 exercise at Teteron Bay, Trinidad and Tobago, April 27, 2025. TW25 is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-approved annual exercise that bolsters regional stability and demonstrates U.S. Joint Force coordination and interoperability with Allies and partners.
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\n Spc. Colton Hines, left, and Sgt. Jessica Shields, water purifications specialist with the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Missouri Army National Guard, checks the chlorine levels of the water meant for cooking and cleaning laundry during TRADEWINDS 25 (TW25) exercise at Teteron Bay, Trinidad and Tobago, April 27, 2025. TW25 is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-approved annual exercise that bolsters regional stability and demonstrates U.S. Joint Force coordination and interoperability with Allies and partners.
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\n Sgt. Hanna Sturgeon, left, and Spc. Colton Hines, a water purification specialist with the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Missouri Army National Guard, prepares to test the water during the TRADEWINDS 25 (TW25) exercise at Teteron Bay, Trinidad and Tobago, on April 26, 2025. TW25 is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-approved annual exercise that bolsters regional stability and demonstrates U.S. Joint Force coordination and interoperability with Allies and partners.
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TETERON BAY, Trinidad \u2013 Few resources are more critical than clean water for sustaining troops in the field.<\/p>\n

From cooking meals to maintaining hygiene, a steady supply of safe water is essential to keeping Soldiers healthy, mission-focused and ready to train during multinational exercises like TRADEWINDS 25 (TW25).<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, Soldiers from the 935th Aviation Support Battalion (ASB), Missouri Army National Guard, are making that mission possible by ensuring more than 1,000 participants representing 26 nations have reliable access to potable water throughout the 13-day exercise.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Southern Command-sponsored, U.S. Army South-led annual multinational, multidomain training exercise aims to promote regional security cooperation and interagency coordination to counter regional threats. However, behind-the-scenes efforts such as water purification sustain the mission and support joint operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often forget the logistics that make these exercises successful,\u201d said Chief Warrant Officer 2 William Pyatt, the battalion\u2019s logistics officer. \u201cYou can\u2019t run field kitchens or laundry stations without a steady supply of water. The 935th\u2019s support allows our own Soldiers and our partner-nations to stay focused on training without compromising health or hygiene.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 935th ASB, headquartered in Aurora, Mo., deployed a specialized water purification team to Trinidad and Tobago to support the U.S. and 25 other partner-nation forces participating in the exercise. The team\u2019s mission is to ensure a reliable, clean water supply for hygiene, food preparation and laundry services in an austere environment where access to safe water is not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Using their lightweight water purifiers, the team can purify water from almost any source: rivers, lakes or even some coastal water. These systems remove contaminants and produce potable water at a rate of thousands of gallons per day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have four different filters that the water goes through to take out any large debris and small particles,\u201d said Spc. Colton Hines, a water treatment specialist with the 935th ASB. \u201cThen we add chlorine to make sure it\u2019s potable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite early challenges, the team\u2019s experience and training helped them adapt. They initially drew water from nearby Teteron Bay but later switched to a more suitable source at Teteron Barracks, which improved the overall quality for participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water quality in Trinidad and Tobago is relatively similar to that in the United States,\u201d Hines said. \u201cWhat we are pulling out of their supply is almost standard to what we have in the U.S., between pH levels, chlorine and overall purity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hundreds of troops around Teteron Barracks may not always see the 935th in action, but they feel the effects of their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important to me\u201d, said Dominican navy 1st Lt. Fernando Hernandez, a ship pilot participating in the exercise. \u201cIf you don\u2019t eat well, you don\u2019t work well, and if you aren\u2019t clean, you can\u2019t work close to others, so it\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though not as visible as the service members conducting the training, the water purification team proudly supports the Caribbean\u2019s premiere regional exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone plays a role in mission success,\u201d Hines said. \u201cWe\u2019re proud that ours keeps everyone healthy and mission-ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalguard.mil<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/USNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Sgt. Jessica Shields, a water purification specialist with the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Missouri Army National Guard, checks the chlorine levels of the water meant for cooking and cleaning laundry during TRADEWINDS 25 exercise at Teteron Bay, Trinidad and Tobago, April 27, 2025. TW25 is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432566,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=432564"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432570,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432564\/revisions\/432570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/432566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=432564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=432564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=432564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}