4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

Story by Spc. Shantelle Campbell

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERALL, Iraq – Imagine operating without light or cooking without a heating source of some kind.

Without the proper resources, completing a task would be difficult.

With units like Company F, 701st Brigade Support Battalion attached to 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kan., providing the necessities needed to sustain a forward operating base and its Soldiers, accomplishing the mission is crucial.

"Distribution platoon is basically a logistics platoon," said 2nd Lt. Darren E. Ingram, distribution platoon leader with Company F, 701st BSB. "We're responsible for transporting all classes of supplies."

"Our mission is to support 2-16 Inf.," said the Atlanta, Ga., native, "by providing them with water, food, ammunition and any other supplies that they may need to complete their mission."

A typical day for the distribution platoon consists of loading supplies and preparing for daily missions to provide supplies to the other 2-16 Inf. elements who are not located on Forward Operating Base Summerall.

"Today, we have a mission of transporting some supplies to Sharqat," said Ingram. "Our job is important because we're the link to them being connected to us here at Summerall."

With Co. F, 701st BSB providing the necessary supplies, the "Ranger" battalion is able to fulfill its mission of helping to create a safer and stronger Iraq.

"It constitutes the freedom of Iraq," said Sgt. 1st Class Gerald S. Bright, a Burkburnett, Texas, native and the distribution platoon sergeant. "It allows us to go out there and maintain these [contingency operating bases] which allows those [Soldiers] to maintain security in those areas. It provides that blanket of freedom ... peace of mind and stability for Iraq and the Iraqi people."

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