Va. Guard personnel return home from West Virginia water sampling mission - Jan. 30, 2014

Sixteen members of the Virginia National Guard's Fort Pickett-based 34th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team returned home Jan. 30, 2014, after assisting with water sampling operations in West Virginia since Jan. 18. While in West Virginia, the Soldiers and Airmen from the 34th collected more than 900 water samples, conducted more than 50 delivery missions to get water samples to testing labs and helped evaluate the water in more than 90 Charleston, W. Va. area schools in a multi-state, multi-agency effort that included National Guard personnel from six different states. Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Long, Jr., the Adjutant General of Virginia, and Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Green, senior enlisted leader for the Virginia National Guard, greeted the members of the 34th CST upon their return and presented them with the Virginia National Guard Commendation Medal for their service.

The Virginia Guard Soldiers and Airmen joined personnel from other states in using the skills and training they have for sampling and identifying unknown chemical or biological agents to help West Virginia officials evaluate the quality of water after a chemical spill left more than 300,000 residents without drinking water. Weapons of mass destruction civil support teams from six different states have been working in the Charleston area since Jan. 9, 2014, to assist the West Virginia National Guard's 35th CST with the collection, data entry and transport of water samples for evaluation.

Read more about their mission at go.usa.gov/B2zQ.