Buffalo Soldiers work hard to improve FOB Summers

Photo By Sgt. Rodney Foliente | Pvt. 1st Class William Cranford, scout, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, spray paints the area surrounding the front door of the battalion headquarters building at Forward Operating Base Summers, Oct. 6, 2008. Cranford is a native of Tucson, Ariz.  

IRAQ

10.13.2008

Story by Sgt. Rodney Foliente 

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

By Sgt. Rodney Foliente
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERS, Iraq – As a group of sweating Soldiers dig a trench under a desert sun, they sing an impromptu song that carries on the hot wind, "home is where you hang your Stetson ..."

A year is a long time to be away from home. For some Soldiers, it becomes habit to call home wherever they find themselves for a long period.

Some do it consciously, others unconsciously, but they fix the place up and make it their own.

That is exactly what the Soldiers of 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, are doing consciously and diligently at Forward Operating Base Summers.

At the beginning of October, they began arriving and hit the ground running. The Soldiers were digging, cutting, hammering, painting and anything else to get their FOB up to their standards.

Standards which will continuously rise throughout the deployment, said Sgt. Maj. Martin Kelley, operations sergeant major for 1-10th Cav. Regt.

Many of the Soldiers say a good portion of their drive and ability to deal with and improve the current conditions is pride in their unit and what it represents: the history and also the legacy of what they will leave behind.

The Buffalo Soldiers have been around since 1866 and if these Soldiers have their way, those who follow in their footsteps will continue to march forever.

"I appreciate my leaders and I wouldn't want to be in any other unit," agreed Sgt. 1st Class Steve Szakal, senior food operations sergeant, Troop D, 1-10th Cav. Regt. and native of Pueblo West, Colo.

Perhaps in part, it is that pride which drives these Soldiers to work hard to improve their year-long place of residence. Maybe it is a desire for more comforts and better quality of life and in part because they are told to do it. As a whole, it seems to be a bit like what occurs at a normal home.

"We're doing a lot to improve this place and make it more homelike," said Sgt. Joey Mansapit, food service specialist, Troop D, 1-10th Cav. Regt. "Quality of life is getting better."

He admitted that it is taking a great deal of extra work, but that the effort will be worth the benefits and he said he is optimistic that life on the base will get better soon.

Apart from their normal jobs, Soldiers are picking up tools and building and improving things. He said that Navy Seabees have also been working hard to help with building furniture, structures and refurbish buildings.

In addition to extra duties and work to fix up the base, Mansapit said he takes pride in his primary job of making sure the Soldiers get good food with the proper nutrients and calories to accomplish their missions and extra work.

One of the buildings being refurbished is the main barracks, which will give the Soldiers currently crowding into other buildings, a greater deal of personal space. Also, when the unit they are replacing redeploys home, there will be additional living space available.

Soldiers have shower trailers and are expecting more shortly, as well as power and air conditioning in their living and work areas.

"Our goal is to improve the quality of life for our Soldiers and promote partnership with the Iraqi security forces, so they can stabilize and secure their own country and we can turn all this over to them," Kelley said.

It will take time and hard work, but these Soldiers are up to the challenge.

• Date Taken: 10.13.2008
• Date Posted: 10.13.2008 08:48
• Story ID: 24890
• Location: IQ