Linemen: Paratroopers put the "forward" in Forward Support Company

Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Pryor | Pfc. Robert Couch, of Sweet Home, Ore., a forklift operator with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, mans a guard position in front of Combat Outpost Callahan in Baghdad's Sha'ab neighborhood, Jan. 25. Fox Company, comprised of mechanics, welders, heavy equipment operators, cooks, and other support specialties, has kept COP Callahan running smoothly for over a year.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

01.28.2008

Story by Staff Sgt. Michael Pryor 

82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs Office

By Staff Sgt. Mike Pryor
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

BAGHDAD – All day long, the roof guards on top of Combat Outpost Callahan in Baghdad's Sha'ab neighborhood had been battered by winds that turned fingers and toes into icicles. Then, around noon, it started to pour freezing rain.

It would have been a nice day to call in sick, but that wasn't an option for the paratroopers on guard duty. No matter how cold or wet it got, the safety of the COP was in their hands.

At shift change, the soggy paratroopers climbed down from the roof. Steam rose from their bodies as they entered the shelter of the warm building. Luckily, it looked like they'd have time to change out of their wet socks and still make dinner.

Make dinner, literally. This particular guard detail was made up of cooks, and after spending hours up on the roof, they still had to prepare lobster tails and corn on the cob for 700 hungry paratroopers.

For the cooks, like all the other support personnel at COP Callahan, the end of a shift on guard duty usually means their real work is just beginning.

For more than a year, the cooks, along with the mechanics, drivers and other personnel who make up Company F, the Forward Support Company for 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, have juggled two jobs – protecting the force and providing combat logistics support to hundreds of paratroopers based at an expeditionary outpost in one of Baghdad's toughest neighborhoods.

"The company doesn't sleep. It's amazing," said Capt. Brian Shoemaker, Company F's commander, who hails from Destrehan, La. "They've really done an excellent job.

"They've got a tough life out here, but they make the most out of it. They drive on."

When the 325th AIR moved into Sha'ab in February, 2007, there was no COP Callahan – there was only an abandoned 5-story shopping center crawling with rats. For Co. F, the first days were the busiest as the paratroopers worked constantly to fortify the building and make it livable.

"It was pretty hectic when we first got out here," said Spc. William Moore, a mechanic from Austin, Texas.

Moore recalled having to work on damaged vehicles while wearing his helmet and full body armor because the COP wasn't secure enough to remove them.

"We couldn't even fit underneath the vehicles," he said, shaking his head at the memory.

From day one, the company assumed the key mission of protecting the COP while the line units conducted operations out in sector. At Callahan, guards have never been able to twiddle their thumbs for a few hours behind some sandbags. In the first months, the COP was attacked on a near-daily basis, and the paratroopers on guard duty had to make life or death decisions about who posed a threat and who didn't.

"We put a lot on their shoulders to be able to go up there and make those decisions," Shoemaker said.

Yet, at the same time as they were protecting the COP, the paratroopers had to support the basic needs of more than 700 Soldiers on any given day. At times, the number of personnel being supported by Co. F rose to almost 1,500, Shoemaker said.

Units based at COP Callahan depend almost entirely on resources provided by Company F to conduct their day-to-day missions, Shoemaker said.

"The fuel that they use to drive, the food that they eat, the ammo they shoot, they get all that from us," Shoemaker said. "It's a pretty daunting responsibility."

For some of the paratroopers, it sometimes seemed as if there weren't enough hours in the day to complete all the work that had to get done. Pfc. Robert Couch, a driver and forklift operator from Sweet Home, Ore., recalled a period where he went 51 hours without sleep.

"I got no problem working long hours if there's stuff that needs to get done. All I need is coffee and (energy drinks)," he said.

In order to get the job done, paratroopers from Co. F have had to learn to adapt over the past year, Couch said. He himself was faced with a number of situations where he had to learn new skills on the fly in order to complete a mission.

"I ended up doing it just because it needed to get done," Couch said. "That's what I'm most proud of."

Whenever the company has faced trying circumstances during the deployment, the paratroopers have responded by knuckling down and working harder. That gritty attitude reminded Spc. Robert Crull, a member of the headquarters platoon from Atlanta, Ga., of the linemen on a football team, who don't get the glory that quarterbacks or wide receivers do, but who make every big play possible.

"These guys are busting their butts, day in and day out, and a lot of the work they do goes unnoticed," Crull said.

One person who did notice it was Sgt. Ken Spalding, an infantryman with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 325th AIR. Spalding said all the paratroopers at the COP appreciate Company F's hard work – even if they don't express it every day.

He made his gratitude clear after bringing his damaged Humvee into the motor pool one day to be repaired. In minutes, the mechanics had the tire off and were fixing the problem. Spalding said he looked on in amazement.

"No matter how often we break it, they're always there to fix it for us," Spalding said. "Without these guys, we really couldn't operate.

• Date Taken: 01.28.2008
• Date Posted: 01.28.2008 13:06
• Story ID: 15828
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ