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By Staff Sgt. Tony M. Lindback,
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Public Affairs Office
PATROL BASE YATES, Iraq – In a push to move Rakkasan Soldiers closer to the people they protect, Task Force Marne engineers are constructing a new base southwest of Baghdad.
Company C, 864th Engineer Battalion, is building Patrol Base Yates in support of Operation Marne Piledriver, a capacity-building operation for Multi-National Division – Center. Living at PB Yates are Rakkasans from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
Company C, from Fort Richardson, Alaska, is the only vertical construction engineer company serving MND-C. Since arriving in Iraq, they have been under the command of the 479th Eng. Bn., serving TF Liberty and TF Marne.
First Lt. Brian Smith, 1st Platoon leader, Co. C, 864th Eng. Bn., said having a base so close to the local village eliminates the need for convoys to and from the area, allowing Soldiers to better carry out their missions.
When finished, the new facilities will create more comfortable living conditions for Soldiers currently inhabiting adequate, but battle-damaged, buildings.
"It's all about amenities for the Soldiers," said Staff Sgt. Howard Gump II, a vertical construction supervisor from New Martinsville, W. Va. "When they go out on a patrol, they know they're coming back to a house, not a dingy, grungy building."
By the end of the platoon's deployment, the engineers will have completed PB Yates among a total of 11 patrol bases and two combat outposts.
Though this project is smaller than previous ones, the engineers had to approach this site differently, Smith said.
"We usually (pre-fabricate) walls and stuff like that, bring them to their location and put them together," said Smith, from Crestview, Fla. "But with this one being so remote, it's just easier to have the materials brought here and for us to do the work on-site."
Building on-site has helped the engineers adapt to uneven and imperfect building surfaces on the fly, he said. It allowed the construction team to be more flexible according to the site's needs.
"We are the Arctic Warriors – arctic tough," Gump said. "No matter what it takes, we'll get the job done for the Soldiers of Task Force Marne and its supporting units."
Company C left its home station in September for deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
| Date Taken: | 04.30.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 05.01.2008 10:48 |
| Story ID: | 18986 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 224 |
| Downloads: | 131 |
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