BSB Soldiers keeps Raider brigade combat ready

Photo By Staff Sgt. Ricardo Branch | Spc. Cantrell Frazier, Company A, 3rd Brigade Support Battatlion, sorts supplies at the loading dock ,Dec. 10, at Camp Taqaddam.  

IRAQ

12.18.2007

Story by Spc. Ricardo Branch 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

By Spc. Ricardo Branch
1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

CAMP TAQADDAM, Iraq – When supplies arrive into Iraq they make many stops before arriving at their final destination.

The trip begins at Camp Taqaddam where it's met by a team of Soldiers from Company A, 3rd Brigade Support Battalion, and they make sure the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division's equipment makes it where it needs to go.

"We get everything for the brigade here on the receiving pad," said Chief Warrant Officer Rabarsha Clayborn, Co. A, 3rd BSB. "Anything the brigade wants comes through us here first."

Clayborn, 32, from Montgomery, Ala., said the supplies can range from anything that Soldiers need to conduct, support and maintain operations. Although the task is large, 21 dedicated Soldiers get the job done.

"We receive everything from ammunition, books, vehicles, engines and bolts," Clayborn said. "If it can be ordered, we order it, and it comes through here."

The supplies come in throughout the day. When a part arrives for a unit, the Soldiers unpack it, add it to the inventory, and put it on a truck to be sent out.

Clayborn said, "It's a two day turn around with supplies. We get it, process it, then load it onto a convoy to be sent where it needs to go."

After equipment leaves the receiving pad, it is loaded onto vehicles to be moved to the camps and security stations around Ramadi.

"The thing about our job that people overlook is that the supply chain is vital. If you look at any Army throughout history, armies marches on their stomach," said Sgt. Leo Gruba, motor transport operator. "Without our job, those supplies like the 'beans and bullets' don't get downrange."

The 25-year-old Bilioxi, Miss., native said that right now the civilian infrastructure doesn't have a way to get the supplies to the Iraqi police, Iraqi army and coalition forces operating in Al Anbar province.

"Through the gains in the security from the IA and IPs, hopefully we can train Iraqis to do the supply runs," he said. "When we first arrived here, it was difficult to get supplies out. Since security has improved, our convoys have been able to bring supplies out."

Although the security situation around Ramadi has improved, a convoy security detachment still rolls out each day with the logistical runs.

"I'm really proud of the work we do out here," said Spc. Curtis Evans, a convoy security gunner. "We're out on the roads risking our lives to help out our fellow Soldiers."

Evans, a 32-year-old, Haskell, Ark., native said that he enjoys the opportunity to ride out with the convoys because it lets him see things outside of camp many Soldiers don't get an chance to see.

"It's exciting going out because you can see the people and countryside of Iraq," he said. "I'd rather be doing this than my regular job."

The beans and bullets are not all the Soldiers handle for the Soldiers of Ramadi. Barriers and material used for force protection also are brought to the camps as well.

"We have an additional transportation element that's stationed in Ramadi, that's done barrier missions through out the city," Gruba said. "They have brought assembled structures which help improve force protection out there."

Every barrier moved he said improves security and helps out the troops.

"All the barriers you see at the Ramadi government center at one time or another has been on the back of a BSB truck," Gruba said. "If they weren't bringing hesco barriers and construction materials into the city, things would be a lot different."

Even with the constant trip down the roads and the unloading of equipment, the Soldiers of Co. A, 3rd BSB continue their mission with steady dedication. For them the work is not easy but it's all part of the getting supplies where it needs to go.

• Date Taken: 12.18.2007
• Date Posted: 12.18.2007 12:11
• Story ID: 14807
• Location: IQ