Looking to get back to their roots in the community, the Alabama National Guard Armory in Andalusia held an open house on Thursday for people to learn more about what goes on at the National Guard.

“We wanted to open up the doors to the community,” Recruiting and Retention NCO Sgt. Donald Cuchens said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about what we do and this gives people to opportunity to see what we do. This is battalion headquarters for the 1-117th Field Artillery unit and what they do is provide support and trucks needed in the field along with other things.”

Battalion Executive Officer Capt. Joseph Johnson said that the open house is something they wanted to do in order to reach out to the community.

“It’s really us getting back to our roots,” Johnson said. “Over the years, we have maybe lost touch with the community and they really don’t know what it is that we do. We wanted to reach out and open our doors to the community to come see what the National Guard is all about. Right now, we have a lot of job openings, and we need the people from the community to help fill those positions.”

Johnson said that there are a number of various jobs available at the armory.

“We are an artillery battalion, so there are a lot of artillery jobs,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of other jobs also. We have cooks, drivers, mechanics, medics and other positions available. We want to show people that there are a lot of different jobs available and the benefits of being in the National Guard.”