A joint effort to serve Hoopa

Story, video series and photos by Christian Jadot
California National Guard Public Affairs

August 24, 2022

HOOPA, Calif. – More than 80 medical and support personnel from the California National Guard, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve participated in a medical innovative readiness training mission in Hoopa Valley, Aug. 1-14.

Service members traveled from across the country to augment the dental and medical clinics for the tribe this month.

The Hoopa live in the Trinity Alps in the Northwestern corner of California and are one of the oldest Native American tribes in the U.S.

Instead of a standard training exercise, the military opted for a mission that would make an impact.

“IRT missions have two parts: training and service,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Scott Rux, mission officer in charge, assigned to the 396th Field Hospital, Army Reserve. “Training comes in here during a real-world scenario, and the other part is service of the community.”

The California Air National Guard provided medical services the first week of the mission and food service through the entirety of the mission.

“We are here to feed the troops. That’s really our mission,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Followill, assigned to Cal Guard's 144th Fighter Wing. “Since we have been here, this has been one of the easiest deployments I have been on. The transition between the teams [and branches] has been extremely fluid. I could not be happier.”

The military personnel and the Hoopa Valley Tribe aided each other ensuring a successful mission, said Rux.

“Right from the get go the tribal people here knew we were here to help perform a service for them. They have been very generous taking care of us,'” said Rux. “This is a unique culture, they have been here 10,000 years. You can travel halfway around the world and not find anything richer than this.”