Candidate Sand is overseas on naval duty

BISMARCK — Republican U.S. House candidate Duane Sand is on a 3-week leave from his campaign because of overseas Naval Reserve duty, he said this week.

Sand is on his way to a remote atoll in the Indian Ocean, where he will command a submarine repair crew.

His campaign announced Wednesday that Sand’s wife, Holly, will take the lead role the candidate’s duties during his absence, including appearances at public events and making comments to news reporters.

Sand said in a phone call shortly before he left Bismarck on Monday that he was preparing for the two-day trip, including 21 hours in the air, necessary to get him from Washington, D.C., through Tokyo and Singapore to the atoll, known as Diego Garcia, 1,000 miles south of India.

Diego Garcia is a military base operated jointly by the U.S. and Great Britain.

Sand said the submarine repair mission is unusual because it takes place while the ship is out of port on a mission—known as “voyage repair,” instead of at a home base in the U.S.

He commands the Submarine Group 10 Reserve Detachment, a unit based in Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia.

Holly Sand is a real estate agent in Bismarck. The couple has two children.

For more information, see www.msc.navy.mil/mpstwo/garcia.htm.

Janell Cole works for Forum Communications Co., which owns The Dickinson Press.

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