US Army Europe’s award-winning movement control team demonstrates its skills during Saber Strike 2014

Courtesy Photo | Bradley fighting vehicles have been loaded onto the rail on their way back to home station in Germany. The U.S. Army Europe’s 635th Movement Control Team, 39th Transportation Battalion based out of Kaiserslautern, Germany, deployed and redeployed approximately 130 pieces of U.S. military stock and approximately 350 personnel in and out of Latvia using military and host nation assets. (Photo courtesy of the 635th Movement Control Team)  

ADAZI TRAINING AREA, LATVIA

06.24.2014

Story by Spc. Cassandra Simonton 

North Dakota National Guard Public Affairs

ADAZI TRAINING AREA, Latvia - Seven Soldiers from U.S. Army Europe’s 635th Movement Control Team, 39th Transportation Battalion, ensured the safe and efficient movement of Army personnel and equipment to exercise Saber Strike 2014 and home again.

The exercise, spread across locations in the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, involved approximately 4,500 personnel from 10 nations. The exercise was designed to promote regional stability, strengthen international military partnerships, enhance multinational interoperability and prepare participants for worldwide contingency operations.

The exercise wrapped up June 20, but the team from the 635th spent approximately 30 days on the job, arriving before Saber Strike began and leaving after many of the service members involved in the exercise had headed home, said 2nd Lt. Max Saurwein, mobility officer for the 635th.

The team loaded and moved more than 130 pieces of equipment by rail in two days to complete their task of returning participating units to Germany. They also facilitated movement of exercise personnel to and from Germany and the U.S.

The mission gave the seven-member team a chance to demonstrate why the 635th earned top honors in the Army’s Deployment Excellence Awards competition earlier this year.

“Our (equipment) rail was supposed to take four days to complete, but by using two cranes at once we got it done in two,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Graham, transportation management supervisor for the 635th.

Getting the job done required the 635th to simultaneously synchronize air, road and rail movements in concert with U.S. and host-nation military and civilian personnel and contractors.

“People unfamiliar with logistics don’t always understand the (expertise) it requires, and that’s where we come in,” said Saurwein. “This was a very unique exercise for us because we deployed people from the States and overseas.”

Graham said it was the first opportunity for many Soldiers of the 635th to take part in this type of mission.

“We brought them here to learn and this was a great training opportunity for them,” he said.

The 635th, based in Kaiserslautern, Germany, is part of USAREUR’s 21st Theater Sustainment Command.

• Date Taken: 06.24.2014
• Date Posted: 06.25.2014 13:05
• Story ID: 134378
• Location: ADAZI TRAINING AREA, LV