SD National Guard deployed to help Yankton archery, train

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YANKTON (AP) – The South Dakota National Guard has been deployed to an archery complex in Yankton where troops will receive training and work on projects to enhance infrastructure.

The 155th Vertical Engineer Company will set up camp at the National Field Archery Association's Easton Yankton Archery complex for two weeks, the Yankton Day Press and Dakotan reported.

The unit will assemble three comfort stations and an outdoor classroom, and clear what was once a city dump to make way for additional archery space.

"The ability to have them is something that's so important to us because none of this would happen without them," NFAA President Bruce Cull said Wednesday. "We don't have the money. We can't afford to build any of that stuff."

Captain B.J. Poore said the company, usually based in Wagner and Rapid City, comprises three platoons, cooks and a fueler. While there, the troops will complete training in masonry, carpentry, electrical and plumbing.

This isn't the first time the National Guard has been deployed to the NFAA. Cull noted that the 155th was on site in 2011 to help with flooding.

He said he was able to score the unit's assistance because his organization fits the National Guard criteria.

"You have to be a public charitable nonprofit – which we are – but the other thing is we really provide opportunities that they have a hard time getting, which are real-life situations," Cull said

Cull said the NFAA is the largest archery facility in the world.