HAMMOND, La. – At this point, many of us have already thrown out our occasions trees, but in us-regions these discarded trees serve an important purpose for the military
The trees are part of an annual mission called the Christmas Tree Drop. It serves as a training exercise for the Louisiana military where guardsmen practice the skills they’ll use in an emergency.
“Repetition is the key to success,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Gabriel Ruiz. “The more we get to do it, the better we get at it.”
Aviators preparing to haul a bundle of Christmas trees.
(Louisiana National Guard)
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Aviators haul bundles of old trees and drop them in the bayou. Ruiz said dropping Christmas trees is similar to deploying water, generators and food after hurricanes” target=”_blank”>hurricanes<
The mission also benefits the state’s wildlife. In two decades, the National Guard has added about 200 football fields of marshland, land that’s been lost to coastal erosion.
“We use those trees to help rebuild the habitat for different wild-nature” target=”_blank”>wildlife<
Parishes will be collecting discarded Christmas trees for the next several weeks. The next mission takes flight this spring.
“Everybody normally wants to jump on this mission,” Ruiz said. “People are already asking about who’s going to be on the roster for this flight.”
