By: Sgt. Melissa Lessard
504th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade Public Affairs
FORT HOOD, Texas-On Feb. 11 Texas became victim to a bitter winter storm that crippled the state. People were stuck in their homes with no power, heat, and water for many days. With pipes busting left and right and an electrical power grid on the fritz, two Soldiers from the West Fort Hood community went above and beyond their call of duty to ensure Soldiers who reside in the barracks were taken care of.
Spc. Dayna Fyffe, a native of Williamstown, New Jersey, and a Soldier with Bravo Company, 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion, 504th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade, and Spc. John Preister, a native from Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, and a Soldier with Fox Company, F/227 Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, worked tirelessly during the week to ensure Soldiers who reside in the barracks on West Fort Hood were taken care of.
Fyffe, who is a Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS) representative at her brigade, said that her work started with the first call.
“On the 11th everyone was pretty happy that we didn’t have to go to work,” Fyffe said. “Then sunset. I got the first call that a room was flooding. I was like ‘oh man, it’s pretty bad.’ So I called DPW. It was like a scene from Titanic.”
Fyffe made some phone calls to maintenance and realized that this was happing all over post. So she wanted to get ahead of it. She called Priester and her and he got to work.
Both Fyffe and Priester inspected all three floors of the barracks looking for dripping water and leaks.
“Pipes started bursting, water was going everywhere, it was kind of dangerous,” Fyffe said.
If they saw water leaking from the heading and air-conditioning system they called in for maintenance, she said. If they say that a room was flooding they contacted the Soldiers to remove their belongings and turn of the electricity to the room.
Both Soldiers worked tirelessly at all times of the day and night to ensure Soldiers in the West Fort Hood barracks received optimal care.
“It could be two in the morning, I would get up and attend to a work order,” Priester said. “It was a lot of running around.”
All together they assisted with cleaning out 65 rooms and moved about 30 Soldiers.
While the storm is over, the community is still recovering from the impact. Fyffe said that the water has been contained but the damage is still there.
