Oklahoma Soldiers Train In Bee Keeping, Basket Weaving

[The Straight Story]

Oklahoma Soldiers Train In Bee Keeping, Basket Weaving


ESPANOLA, N.M. -- Fourteen members of an Army National Guard unit training in northern New Mexico have met stringent fitness requirements and are learning rifle marksmanship and land navigation, but they're also learning about beekeeping, basket weaving and slaughtering goats.

It's all to prepare for the 2-45th ADT unit of the Oklahoma Army National Guard's upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, that meant a visit to the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center.

Dressed in fatigues and tan combat boots, the soldiers stood out at the center as they got a crash course in natural yarn dying and hands-on lessons on the loom.

Lessons like these are designed to prepare the team for their duty to help communities become self-sustaining. The troops are scheduled to deploy to the eastern Afghani province of Paktia.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=12602518