Maintainer’s sling load team enhances supply efforts

Photo By Sgt. Sarah Bailey | U.S. Army Spc. Rey Reyes and Spc. Eddie Ortiz, both unit supply specialists, and Sgt. Tracie Cerda-Sims, a water treatment specialist, attach an equipment load to a Sikorsky S-61N helicopter at Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar province, Afghanistan, April 10, 2013. Reyes, Ortiz and Cerda-Sims are assigned to Alpha Company, 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Sarah M. Bailey/Released)  

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK, AFGHANISTAN

04.11.2013

Story by Spc. Sarah Bailey 

4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK, Afghanistan — Just weeks after the 703rd Maintainers transfer of responsibility ceremony, soldiers from the Task Force Maintain sling load team, 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, work hard to ensure the supply needs within the Vanguard Brigade are met in Wardak and Logar provinces, Afghanistan.

The Task Force Maintain sling load team mission is to rapidly distribute supplies to other units through air transportation. Moving supplies by air allows for quicker distribution by expediting the delivery of goods as well as streamlining the supply channel.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Ryan Murphy, the executive officer for Company A, 703rd BSB, understands the importance of utilizing air transportation and the benefits it provides to the other units in the brigade. Murphy, a Virginia Tech graduate, originally from Fairfax, N.J., said, “It provides force expansion which allows the movement of supplies by both ground and air, and can greatly speed up the delivery process.”

The soldiers on the sling load team have been training together since before this deployment to Afghanistan and are excited to finally get to execute the skills they have learned.

“We have been working together for months, and it’s finally game time,” said U.S. Army Spc. Eddie Ortiz, a Cayey, Puerto Rico, native and a unit supply specialist with Company A.

“It’s what we do. We support the entire brigade and are constantly working to help with their success,” said Ortiz, a member of the sling load team.

• Date Taken: 04.11.2013
• Date Posted: 04.14.2013 23:56
• Story ID: 105181
• Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK, AF
• Hometown: CAYEY, PR
• Hometown: FAIRFAX, VA, US