1st Sustainment Command (Theater) Public Affairs

Story by Sgt. Nathan Hutchison

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait-- Friendship One 2009, one of the first missions involving the movement of troops into Saudi Arabia in more than 15 years, officially began Feb. 19, when Kansas National Guard Soldiers and their equipment traveled from Camp Arifjan, Kuwait to the training area in Saudi Arabia.

Lt. Col. Jack McLaughlin and the rest of his 1st Theater Sustainment civil affairs team were charged with coordinating the movement of the Guardsmen's more than 60 truckloads of equipment.

"We have a running relationship with the border police at the Iraqi border," McLaughlin said, "but we have had really no dealings with the border police and customs procedures on the Saudi side."

The team met with Col. Mohammad Al-Mutairi, chief of Convoy Security, first to provide the necessary escorts for this sizable convoy.

"We have a limited number of vehicles available, but this is an important mission, and we will do everything we can to help," Al-Mutairi said. "The Americans are our friends and the Saudis are our friends, so we will do what we can to improve their relationship as well."

After obtaining the appropriate paperwork to move the convoy across country lines, McLaughlin started touching base with each Kuwaiti official he knew.

"The thing about a mission like this is there is no room to adjust if something is not right," McLaughlin said. "I wanted to make sure there were no unexpected problems. There was a lot of people counting on this equipment being at the right place at the right time, every step of the way."

McLaughlin and his team headed to the border the day prior to the convoy movement to make last minute confirmations and to make sure the proper paperwork was in all the necessary hands.

"Both the border security and customs security on the Kuwaiti and Saudi side were a pleasure to work with," McLaughlin said. "I was a little worried because things were running so smoothly. When things start moving smoothly with this much paperwork you always expect something to go wrong."

Luckily McLaughlin and his team's diligence overcame any obstacles that could have delayed the mission.

"A lot of people really helped keep this mission on schedule, which is an indication in itself of the relationships between [the U.S. military] and our allies here in the Middle East," McLaughlin said.

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