NASA - Soldiers take time from busy schedules to plant flowers

While their fellow guardsmen were watching the world to prevent a surprise nuclear attack Wednesday, about 25 soldiers from the national guard unit in Greeley volunteered to plant flowers.

You could see them Wednesday, all over the University of Northern Colorado campus, digging, planting, pulling weeds, trimming branches. Making the place look good.

Chief Master Sgt. Mark Rupert of the Greeley Air National Guard station throws a handful of grass toward a trash bag as he and Shelly Fisher of Housing and Resident Life clean out around a tree in front of Hansen-Willis Hall at the University of Northern Colorado on Wednesday morning. The Greeley Air National Guard group helped out on the UNC campus as part of its outreach program.

It was a gardening day for many UNC employees and members of the Greeley Air National Guard unit. “A day to provide our backs and elbow-grease,” said Master Sgt. Peter Hunziker of Greeley.

The 40 UNC employees are from the housing, dining and recreation staffs, and spent a day out of the office to clean up the flower beds and plant new flowers with the guardsmen. They spread all over campus, from the visitor's center to Wilson Hall, where they painted the rec room to the west campus, to the west campus dormitories.

Tobias Guzman, an assistant vice president of the university, said he was contacted by the National Guard unit. “They wanted to make a connection to the campus community,” Guzman said. “This is a good way to do it.”

All the workers agreed that the hard rain the night before made their jobs easier for digging, pulling weed and planting.

Brad Shade, the director of housing operations at UNC, said it's an important effort. “We have a beautiful campus, and we want to keep it that way.”

Lt. Col. Tom Book was leading the national guard members Wednesday and said it was part of the guard's community service project.

But the guard unit's job also is important to the country. The 137th Space Warning Squadron is based next to the Greeley/Weld County Airport in a cluster of buildings surrounded by high fencing and barbed wire.

Their mission is to watch satellite feeds for missile launches around the world. If another country launches a missile, the first to see it would be the Greeley guard unit, and they would pass the information along to NORAD and other military units and even to the White House.

One of the guard members working in front of a dormitory Wednesday was Chief Master Sgt. Mark Rupert, who is a traditional guardsman. “That means I spend one weekend a month on duty, plus two weeks in the summer. This half-day is part of our community service.”

In his job at Colorado University, Rupert is a research faculty member in the Aerospace Department. He works with NASA to prepare plants, cells and bacteria to fly on the space shuttle and to the International Space Station.

But Wednesday, Rupert's job was more down-to-earth. Planting flowers in front of Hansen Hall.