Nevada Guard backs first responders for 22nd year at ‘America’s Party’
Photo By Spc. Adrianne
Lopez
Story by Spc.
Adrianne Lopez
17th Sustainment Brigade
Public Affairs Section
The Nevada National
Guard completed its 22nd year assisting first responders in Las Vegas for
“America’s Party” — an annual New Year’s Eve celebration that regularly brings
more than 300,000 partygoers to the Entertainment Capital of the World.
About 220 Guardsmen
and women assisted for the activation this year. More than 100 of those were on
the Las Vegas Strip to assist with crowd control and ensure a safe celebration.
Additionally, about 40 members of the Nevada Air Guard backed staffs at
University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center on Friday and
into the early hours of Saturday morning for potential triage support in the
case of any emergency. This support has been requested the past four years
following the Route 91 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 60 country music
concertgoers in 2017.
"The Nevada
National Guard has been so busy the past two years with the pandemic, overseas
deployments, firefighting and so much more," Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak
told a group of Guardsmen and women at the Speedway Armory in Las Vegas this
week. "This mission in support of local law enforcement is crucial to
ensure we are prepared for anything that happens on The Strip during 'America's
Party.' I can’t thank you all enough for stepping up and supporting the Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County Emergency Management during
this year's celebration."
The cooperative New
Year’s mission is headed by Clark County Emergency Management and supported by
the Nevada National Guard, local and federal law enforcement and several other
city, county and state agencies.
“Many of our
Guardsmen work full-time as law enforcement officers,” said Maj. Gen Ondra
Berry, Nevada’s adjutant general, who served as the assistant police chief in
the Reno Police Department during his 25-year career in law enforcement while
also serving as a member of the Nevada Air Guard. “We work hand-in-hand with
members of law enforcement for myriad training exercises and real-world
scenarios. It’s not unusual to see them working together.”
Various forms of
the cooperative New Year’s Eve mission and training exercises have occurred
since the Y2K scare of 1999.
Metro Sgt. Timothy
Frederick, who works in the event planning unit, thanked the Guardsmen and
women.
“On behalf of
Metro, thank you for your help,” said Frederick, who is also a major and
traditional Guardsman in the Nevada Army National Guard. “We couldn’t do it
without you.”