GALLUP, N.M. -- Reservists from the 911th Civil Engineer Squadron, Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station, Pa., are spending their annual training tour here constructing homes for the Navajo Nation under Operation Footprint, a Department of Defense Innovative Readiness Training program.
Operation Footprint partners DOD members with the Southwest Indian Foundation to target the extreme need for affordable housing within the Navajo Nation. The per capita income in the Navaho Nation is $6,217 and 56 percent of the population currently lives below the poverty level. Unemployment hovers at 43 percent.
SWIF, a non-profit charitable organization, helps the Navajo Nation through a variety of services ranging from new home construction, school tuition, to helping battered women gain services to get them in a safe place.
"This foundation is the reason I am still working at the age of 77; it is very rewarding to help the poor and the people who fall through the cracks of our society," said Joseph G. Esparza, the director of SWIF's projects office, and a member of the organization for more than 31 years.
Military members have been building homes here since July of 1997, when the U.S. Air Force Academy and SWIF agreed to construct two bedroom homes for the "poorest of the poor" of the Navajo Nation, according to Esparza.
Around 250 homes have been built since the inception of Operation Footprint.
The 911th CES members will be helping to finish three homes that were in various stages of construction, contributing roughly 1,750 man hours, and will try to get more homes started by the time they depart for Pittsburgh.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for our people to showcase what we are capable of when called upon, while also helping a worthy cause with Operation Footprint," said Capt. Robyn Froelich, 911th CES commander. "We're getting valuable training for our folks during this period, whether it is upgrade training or our people getting out of their trade a little bit so they are a more well-rounded craftsman on the job site."
As much as the Airmen of the 911th are glad to have come to Gallup to do their jobs, the town is equally as glad to have them.
Gallup has been designated as the most patriotic town in America by Rand McNally's Best of the Road contest and has a long history of military service, most notably the Navajo code-talkers, who contributed to Allied victories in the Pacific during WWII.
"Meeting the military folks who come here year-in-and-year-out is one of the biggest rewards that we get out of this program," said Esparza.