5th QM, 16th SB practice aerial resupply ops in Grafenwoehr

Photo By Master Sgt. Warren Wright | Pallets containing more than 4,000 pounds of water are air dropped onto the Bunker Drop Zone during aerial supply delivery training, conducted by U.S. Soldiers with the 5th Quartermaster Detachment and 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Sustainment Command, at Grafenwoehr, Bavaria Germany, May 23, 2013. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Warren W. Wright Jr./Released)  

GRAFENWOEHR, BY, GERMANY

05.26.2013

Story by Staff Sgt. Warren Wright 

21st Theater Sustainment Command

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - Soldiers with the 21st Theater Sustainment Command's 5th Quartermaster Detachment and 16th Sustainment Brigade joined together to conduct aerial supply delivery training during an operation at the Bunker Drop Zone, here, May 23.

More than 12,000 pounds of water, which is used to simulate the weight of any supply item that can be dropped in a real world scenario, were parachuted onto the drop zone on five separate pallets.

"This is as close as we can get to getting down range and doing this at a forward operation area," said Chief Warrant Officer Brian Martin, an air drops system technician with the 16th Sustainment Brigade, and a native of Apple Creek, Ohio. "If we were doing a real world mission, we could rig just about anything from medical supplies to food, water, beans, bullets; whatever we would need."

"Resupply is a big part of what we do," said 1st Lt. Christopher Carlstedt, a subsistence and water purification platoon leader with the 16th Sustainment Brigade's 240th Quartermaster Support Company, and a native of Littleton, Colo. "A lot of times down range (supplies are) going to come via air drop and this training ensures that we are capable of doing that."

Hands on preparation for the aerial supply delivery began a week prior with members of the 5th Quartermasters and 16th Sustainment Brigade rigging the palletized water with parachutes at Rhine Ordnance Barracks in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in preparation for the drop.

Successful operations required accurate communication and logistics between all units involved in order to be mission ready and capable, said Martin. "We have to make sure we can coexist and everyone gets the proper training."

Both the 16th Sustainment Brigade and the 5th Quartermasters conduct joint training on a monthly basis in order to be better prepared to conduct successful operations on the battlefield.

"Obviously we don't have the advantage of being in Afghanistan, with the terrain or hostile environment, but we do have the capability," said Martin. "As you do this, your muscle memory kicks in so that when you are in that hostile environment or in that forward support area you will be able to conduct the mission as you did in the rear."

"I think the more people that can get exposed to this and if we can get more training like this, it definitely sets up for better success for when we get down range," Carlstedt added.

• Date Taken: 05.26.2013
• Date Posted: 06.05.2013 06:37
• Story ID: 108088
• Location: GRAFENWOEHR, BY, DE
• Hometown: APPLE CREEK, OH, US
• Hometown: LITTLETON, CO, US